Round and Round
by Tanglepelt
Summary: College student Rue Hunter thought she had enough on her plate: papers, a roommate from hell, you name it. Add five guys who pop out from a statue to the mix, claiming to be the personifications of various nations, and she's got trouble. -Globe fic-
1. Prologue

**Welcome to 'Round and Round', my third Hetalia fic! (I consider the 'Blood and Tears' series to be one story, XDD.) **

**There is a bit of a backstory to this one. One of my friends was fed-up with the lack of well-written OC stories, so she challenged me to write one. Normally, I am not a big fan of OCs, but I will write about one, as a gift to my friend. **

**Also, I read a story called 'World is Ours', by Atama Ga Kuru Teru, and I fell in love with the 'globe' concept. **

**So, yeah, this story will be a 'globe' fic. However, I like to think that this one will be a bit different than the others because it won't be humorous and lighthearted. It will be pretty dark. (Though there will be some humor in it; all stories need a little comic relief, XD.) Also, there won't be any pairings; characters will become close friends, but that is all. (Romance is my weakest genre.)**

**All right. The long author's note is over, so enjoy the prologue!**

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><p><strong>Round and Round<strong>

**Prologue**

An impromptu meeting was held at a (very expensive) hotel in England, and all the people attending were very confused. This was no ordinary business meeting, however. This was a meeting for the personifications of various nations. In this world, each country had one, and they took the form of a human being so their true identity would never be revealed.

But back to the meeting. It wasn't one of the scheduled ones that occurred every three months or so, nor was it an emergency meeting because of an international disaster. All of the nations present whispered confusedly to anyone sitting close enough, sharing their theories as to why they were assembled at the hotel.

"I bet it's so we can create a team of awesome superheroes!" the personification of America whispered excitedly to Japan, who was sitting next to him.

The Asian nation said nothing, his eyes narrowed in thought. He turned his head when he felt someone tugging on his sleeve.

"Do you think we did something wrong?" Latvia murmured, looking down. "I know I accidentally broke the vase at the last meeting, but—"

He was cut off by Austria (whose country hosted said meeting), who angrily snapped, "That was you? I had to pay for that!"

The short nation whimpered and moved his chair closer to Japan's. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Austria!"

The raven-haired man sighed and shook his head. "It's all right, I guess. Just try to be less clumsy next time."

"Yes, sir!"

Not wanting to interrupt the conversation—er, lecture—Japan waited until Austria was finished talking before he spoke. "Ah, I do not think we did anything wrong, Latvia-san, so don't worry yourself."

"Yes, sir," the younger boy muttered, though Japan could sense that his words did nothing to soothe the blond's anxious mind.

_Does he ever think optimistically? _The Japanese man knew the answer to that question, and narrowed his eyes. _He became this way because of the Soviet Union. _He didn't know what had been done to the small blond or his two companions during that time period, but he knew it had to have been very unpleasant.

He let his mind wander as time passed, thinking of cherry blossoms, his dog, and what needed to be done when he got home. He was snapped back into reality when he heard someone's fist pound on the table. He looked up to see England standing up, a page of notes in his hand.

"I have called you all here today to discuss something extremely important."

"So it was you!" France called, flipping his hair. "Of course _you_ would make all of us drop what we were doing to listen to you blather on about some unimportant topic!"

"Shut it, Frog!" the Briton snapped, giving France a glare that made Finland, who was sitting next to him, grimace. He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. "As I was saying, I discovered something that could be beneficial to us."

"Is it a vat of toxic waste that can give us superpowers?" America asked, a goofy smile on his face.

Japan resisted the urge to facepalm. To those who didn't know the energetic blond, they'd think he was joking. But to those who knew him well, he was being serious. Completely serious.

"Of course it isn't," scoffed Switzerland, rolling his eyes. "But we'll never know what it is if everyone keeps talking. So shut up!"

Intimidated by the neutral country's outburst, America nodded and sat back down.

"Thank you, Switzerland," England said, nodding. Addressing everyone else, he continued. "I have discovered that a portal to another dimension will open soon!"

"Is it the one with the naked cat people?" asked Belgium, looking interested. "I've been wanting to talk to Parallel-Spain for such a long time!"

Japan thought back to that…interesting…Christmas and shuddered. If what England was saying was true—and it probably was, since the green-eyed man was known to dabble in black magic—he didn't want a repeat of that incident.

"No," England responded. "It's not that dimension. It is another world that is just like ours, according to my research." He held up his notes. "The only difference is that they have no country personifications."

"Hold on, England," stated Germany, standing up. "How do you know that this is true? Pardon my French," France pouted at this statement, "but it sounds like utter bullshit."

"We've dealt with other worlds before, Germany, as Belgium pointed out. Does it still seem that unrealistic to you?"

The muscular nation sighed. "That's an excellent point. You can't blame me for being skeptical, though." Sitting down, he continued. "If this _is _real, where is this portal supposed to be, and why would we want to go through it?"

"Well," the Briton replied, "there's a reason why I chose this hotel. The portal is supposed to open right here in this meeting room in approximately three days. That is the reason I required for you to pack a suitcase before coming here. As for why we should go through it, isn't it obvious? We can learn much from other worlds. I for one would like to experience what life is like there."

After England concluded his speech, Lithuania raised his hand. "Umm, sorry if this offends you, but wouldn't it be illogical if everyone here went through the portal at once? It sounds like it could cause a lot of trouble."

"Thank you for bringing that up, actually," said England, causing the brunet to sink into his chair in relief. He held up an old-looking fedora.

"Hey!" snapped Romano, also known as the southern half of Italy. "That's mine; I've been looking for that! Why the hell did you steal it?"

Ignoring the angry Italian, England continued to speak. "Inside this hat are slips of paper, one for each of us. Four of the slips have a red dot on them. If you get one, you get to be the first set of people who go to the other world, with me. Does that seem fair?"

"Why do you automatically get to go?" France grumbled.

"Because _I'm _the one who made this discovery, Francey-Pants," the Briton gloated. He gave the hat to Hungary, who was the closest person to him. "Take a slip of paper, and pass the hat around the room. Once everyone gets one, give it back to Romano, since apparently, it belongs to him."

"Thanks, bastard," said Italian snapped sarcastically.

Hungary nodded, taking a slip from the hat and passing it to Poland, who sat next to her.

Once everyone grabbed one, England said, "Now, then. Whoever has a slip with a red dot on it, please stand up."

One by one, Japan, Iceland, Lithuania, and Germany got up.

"Ha, West!" cackled Prussia. "You got a period paper!"

A swift glare from Hungary shut him up.

"Okay. Now that we know who's going the first time, there is one more thing we have to discuss," said England, causing everyone to settle down. "We will be entering the parallel world via some sort of object. Whoever owns it is called the Keeper. According to our research, he or she will be the only person who can see us; to everyone else, we are invisible. One of us must bond with this person, and become their protector, for the portal to remain open for a period longer than a week."

"What?" Japan exclaimed quietly, surprised. _I wasn't expecting that. _"England-san, how does that work?"

"According to my notes, the bond is like a connection between the two people, like invisible strings pulling them together."

"So it's like _l'amour_?" asked France, being serious for once.

"No," explained the green-eyed man. "It's quite different than love. It's just a feeling of very close friendship. I really don't know how to explain it."

The French nation nodded, still looking very interested.

"Okay!" England clapped his hands. "Everyone can feel free to socialize or go back to your rooms. However, I must give some more instructions to the people coming with me to the other world, so you four have to stay."

After a minute, the room emptied, leaving Japan alone with England, Germany, Iceland, and Lithuania. He was familiar with the first two, but he didn't know much about the others. _Maybe I can get to know them better, and learn some facts about their culture. _

As England began to speak, a rare emotion raced through his body. Excitement.

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><p><strong>And that's the end of the prologue! This will probably be the most humorous chapter in this story, XD. <strong>

**This chapter references the 2010 Christmas Bloodbath comic. (Specifically Belgium's comment.) **

**I LOVE the _Paint it, White _English dub outtakes, so I included a reference to that. Virtual cookies (Kirkland brand, XD) go to anyone who gets this.**

**Hopefully, it wasn't too boring, and you want to read the next chapter. I know it was short, but it was only the prologue. The real chapters will be longer.**

**I really hope I kept everyone in character; I'm paranoid that every time I write a fanfic, characters are OOC.**

**If anything doesn't seem explained well-enough, don't worry. I will go more in-depth in later chapters. **

**As for the five nations who are going through the portal, I bet you weren't expecting Iceland and Lithuania, XDD. All of the fics I read seemed to revolve around the Big Eight (what I call the Allies and the Axis), so I decided to switch it up. Plus, everyone who knows me knows that I love the Baltics and the Nordics, so I had to include at least one of each group in the story. (Don't worry, Latvia and Estonia will definitely be making appearances, as well as the other Nordics.) **

**The next chapter will introduce my OC. I hope she's realistic, since I have been working on her for a long time. **

**Many thanks goes to Atama Ga Kuru Teru, who inspired me to write this. You're awesome~! I hope this does your amazing globe idea justice! **

**Note: 'brunet' is the male version of 'brunette'. It is not a typo.**

**I am using the manga coloring for the characters, meaning that Latvia will have pale blond hair and amethyst eyes instead of sandy-brown hair and pale blue eyes, Lithuania will have green eyes, etc.**


	2. Chapter One: Storm

**Welcome to Chapter One of 'Round and Round'! If you made it here, that means that you liked the prologue! (I hope!)**

**This chapter will focus on my OC. I hope she's not cliché and boring. If she sounds 'meh' now, it's because the story has only started, and I didn't want to explain everything about her in the first chapter. **

**A note about this chapter: Rue (the OC), is a college student. I don't know how other colleges are set up, but mine (yes, I'm a college freshman. I'm old. Sue me!) is set up like this:**

**Students take four classes that are scattered throughout the day, and throughout the week. (For example, my schedule for last semester consisted of American Playwrights at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Japanese at 10:00 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, Origins of East Asia at 1:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Intro to Global Politics at 7:00 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.) Classes are either fifty or eighty minutes long. (It depends on the class.) The exception is for science majors. They have additional labs to go to as well as their four classes. (Luckily, I am not a science major, XD.)**

**This is how Rue's college life will be set up.**

**Many thanks go to everyone who reviewed!**

…**Atvainojiet! (Anyone who knows what language this is gets a virtual Kirkland brand cookie…) This was really long, and I rambled. Oops.**

**Enjoy!**

**Hetalia doesn't belong to me. If it did, the Baltics would have more screen time. **

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><p><strong>Chapter One: Storm <strong>

"_PARTY ROCKERS IN THE HOUSE, TONIGHT…" _

Eighteen-year-old college student Rue Hunter groaned, covering her head with her pillow to block out the noise. It was three in the morning, and Jocelyn Hollis, her roommate, was pulling an all-nighter. Again.

_This is the third time this week! _Rue resisted the urge to whimper. Apparently, Jocelyn needed to blast music at obscenely loud levels in order to 'stay awake' and 'study properly'. Because this had been happening two to three times a week for the past month, the blonde lost a lot of sleep, and it was beginning to affect her ability to perform well in class.

When she could take no more, the frustrated girl sat up, tightly gripping the pillow. "Can you please shut that off, or at least use headphones?"

"You know headphones irritate my ears, Shrimp," the redhead said coldly, looking up from her computer. "And you know I need music to study and write papers."

"Please don't call me that," Rue said, squeezing the pillow tighter.

"Well you are pretty damn short! What are you, four-four?"

"I'm four-seven," stated the blonde, irritated.

"Same thing." Jocelyn continued typing, singing along to the song under her breath.

Sighing, Rue slid off the bed, grabbing her pillow, blanket, stuffed cat (she liked to cuddle with something when she slept), her room key, and her cell phone. "See you tomorrow, Jocelyn."

"Sure thing, Shrimp!" her roommate smirked, waving.

Sighing once more, Rue left the room dejectedly, walking down three flights of stairs until she reached her dorm's basement. She sleepily shuffled into the deserted lounge, throwing her blanket, pillow, and plush cat on the small couch. She set her phone's alarm to wake her up at eight-thirty and placed it gently on the table. Once she closed the door, she curled up on the couch and fell into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning, Rue felt like someone hit the back of her head with something heavy and metal. Rubbing her eyes and gathering up her stuff, she willed the pain to go away before class. _Not like that's going to happen; I get headaches all the time, now! At least no one ever uses this lounge, and I got some sleep. _

Placing her phone on top of what she dubbed her 'pile of crap', she slowly walked back up the stairs to the third floor, where her room was.

Testing the doorknob, she realized that Jocelyn had already left the room. _Thank goodness. _She quickly unlocked the door and darted inside, throwing her stuff on her bed. After she got dressed, she looked at herself in the mirror, wrinkling her nose at her reflection.

Her chin-length, honey-blonde hair looked all right, but her normally sparkling blue eyes looked dull and had ugly dark circles below them, and her face was very pale.

"I look like a vampire, or something," she said aloud, giggling to herself.

Looking at her clock, she realized that she needed to leave now if she wanted to eat breakfast and still be on time for her ten o'clock Intro to Modern European History class.

Since all of her friends were in class, she ate her meal alone. She nearly fell asleep again, but caught herself before her face could fall into her cereal bowl. _Stupid Jocelyn and her stupid all-nighters! It's her fault I'm so tired and stressed all the time! _

Not only did the redhead play loud, mostly vulgar rap music constantly, she also gave Rue orders, like not allowing her to bring her friends in the room, making her clean every inch of it every week, etc. _It doesn't even feel like my room! I feel like a servant! _

Checking her phone, she quickly finished her breakfast and left the dining hall, jogging to her first—and luckily only—class of the day.

Rue tried to force herself to stay awake during the lecture, but found herself nodding off every ten to fifteen minutes. She wasn't surprised when the professor called her to his desk after class.

"I'm sorry if I offended you by falling asleep, Professor Linder," she said, looking down. "I've just been really stressed this past month."

"I can tell," the old man answered. "Miss Hunter, you're not in any trouble. None at all."

"Oh." Surprised, Rue asked, "Then why am I here?"

"I just wanted to give you this." Professor Linder held up the miniature globe statue he had on his desk. "I know you love history so much, so I thought it would amuse you."

_What? _Despite her confusion, she took the statue. "Thanks?"

"And who knows?" the white-haired man got a faraway look in his eyes. "Maybe it will be helpful to you, and relieve some of your stress."

_O…kay? That sounds a bit odd. _Shrugging, she chalked it up to the professor's old age. "I have to work on some homework now. Thanks for the globe, Professor."

"Any time, Miss Hunter," he responded, smiling. "Have fun."

As soon as she left the building, raindrops started to fall.

_Great. The day I don't bring an umbrella, it rains. That's just perfect. _She gently placed the globe in her bag to prevent it from getting wet. Once she zipped it up, she ran all the way back to her dorm.

As soon as she made it inside the lobby, she shivered. The month of November was cold already; the rain just made it worse. Quickly walking up the stairs, she headed straight to her room, which was locked. _She's not here again! All right! I'll be able to do my homework and take a nap in peace!_

Removing the globe from her bag, she put it on her desk. _Huh, it looks nice here. _Soon, all thoughts of the statue slipped her mind, and she began to work on her homework, starting with her Italian class's workbook pages.

However, she only got through one page before she slumped forward, falling asleep at her desk.

She was abruptly woken up when a light assaulted her eyes. _Must have forgotten to turn off the lamp. _She forced her eyes open, and was confused when she discovered the light wasn't coming from her lamp. It was coming from the globe.

_What the hell? Is this some sort of joke? _She was forced to close her eyes when the light got brighter and brighter. When it finally dimmed, she reopened them. Staring back at her were five young men. The first was muscular, with slicked-back blond hair. The second was short (though definitely not as short as she herself was), and seemed to be from somewhere in Asia. The third one was also blond, but he had the biggest eyebrows Rue had ever seen. The fourth was a serious-looking boy with unusual silver hair, and the fifth had neck-length, wavy brown hair and kind green eyes.

Like any sane person, she closed her eyes, rubbed them, and opened them again. When she found that they were still there, she tilted her head, more puzzled than scared.

"Did you just pop out of that globe?" she asked.

"You're not going to scream?" asked the one she nicknamed 'Caterpillar Brows', a British accent evident in his voice.

"No," she explained. "I don't want to draw attention to myself. If this is just some weird dream or hallucination brought on by stress, I don't want to look like a fool by making the others in this residence hall burst in here."

"Ah," Caterpillar Brows replied. "I assure you, Miss…" he looked at her for a name.

"Hunter. Rue Hunter."

"I assure you, Miss Hunter," he continued. "That we are not a stress-induced hallucination. If we popped of that globe, that means that it was the portal. And if you can see us, that means you're the Keeper of it."

"Huh?" Now not only was Rue tired, she was also confused. "I have no clue what you just said."

"What _Igirisu_ is trying to say is that we come from another world," the Asian man stated. "Somehow, we were able to enter yours through that globe. According to our research, since you own the globe, you are the only one who can see us."

"Okay, that makes sense," Rue replied.

"You believe us?" asked Sergeant, (her nickname for blond with the slicked-back hair.) "This seems so obviously far-fetched!"

_Of course he's German, _she thought, noticing his accent. Aloud, she said, "What choice do I have? Either what you're saying is true, or I'm crazy, and I don't like to think that I'm crazy."

He was about to reply when the door opened, and Jocelyn walked into the room.

Rue stared at the men worriedly.

"Don't worry," said the only brunet, his voice calm. "You're the only one who can see us, remember?"

She nodded slightly. _That's not why I'm nervous. _She knew how intimidating her roommate could be, and she didn't want to be humiliated in front of her…guests.

"Hey Shrimp! You know what day it is?"

"It's Friday, Jocelyn," she said through gritted teeth.

"That's right. Which means it's cleaning day!" the redhead's tone was sickly sweet and sing-songy. "When I get back here in the evening, I'm bringing a few friends over, so I want it to be spotless, got it?"

"Yes, Jocelyn," Rue replied.

"Aww, thanks so much!" She patted the shorter girl on the head before grabbing her books and walking towards the door. "And you know," she said, her eyes gleaming, "If it's not clean, I could always get all my homework done tonight!"

With those parting words, she skipped out of the room.

Hanging her head, Rue turned to the five men who stood behind her. "I'm sorry, but can we continue this discussion later? If I don't clean the room, she'll keep me up all night again."

No one said anything. A few seconds later, the brunet broke the silence. "That's not right, you know. She shouldn't do that to you. She's your roommate, right?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"If she wants the room clean, she should do it. You're not a servant."

"Easy for you to say," she muttered. "You don't live with her."

The taller boy's eyes slightly narrowed. "Trust me, I used to live with someone similar. I know exactly how you feel."

"You had a horrible roommate too?"

The brunet grimaced. "You could say that." Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Miss Rue, your legs are shaking!"

She looked down. "Oh, that happens sometimes, when I don't get enough sleep and I'm stressed. It's an ordinary occurrence, now."

The young man narrowed his eyes once more. "Not right," she heard him mutter. "That's just not right."

"Is there anything we can do to help, Rue-san?" asked the Asian man.

"I feel really stupid for asking you this, but can you help me clean?"

"That seems fair, since we did pop into your room unannounced," replied the silver-haired boy.

Snapping her fingers, she remembered something. "But before we start, can you tell me your names?"

Caterpillar Brows nodded. "I am the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but you can call me England, Britain, or even U.K. The blond is Germany, the short one is Japan, the quiet one is Iceland, and the one who you like to talk to is Lithuania. We are the personifications of those nations."

"Umm, okay."

"You still believe me?" Caterpillar Brows, no, _England_ asked.

"Well, you _did _just pop out of a tiny globe statue. Anything seems to be possible, today." Rue managed a small smile when another headache hit her like a ton of bricks. Since her legs were already shaking, it was only natural that she slipped when she tried to walk forward.

Before she could fall, however, she felt someone pull her back to her feet. She looked up into the concerned eyes of Lithuania. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just really tired. I haven't had a good night's sleep in days."

"Sleep," he said, pointing to her bed. "It's unhealthy not to. We'll clean the room for you. It just needs to be swept and just generally straightened up, right?"

"Sure," she murmured, her eyes already closing. "The broom's in the closet." She felt the taller boy walk her to her bed. She promptly slid under the covers, pulling her plush cat to her chest. In seconds, she was asleep.

/

"Well, that was generous of you, Lithuania," England said to the brunet, who had already started to sweep.

"She looked like she could use a break," he responded, almost defensively. "Plus…she reminded me of someone."

"Ah, I see," the blond nodded. Germany and Iceland had gotten bored and decided to go back to their own world, so only he, Lithuania, and Japan were left.

_Latvia, _said Asian nation stated, thinking of the blonde girl's small size and large eyes. _That's who he's reminded of. _

"I just don't think it's right that such a sweet girl is so stressed," Lithuania continued. "She's a college student; she should be out with her friends, not sleeping every chance she can get because she's kept up at night."

"How do you know she's a college student?" asked Japan.

"She said this was a dorm, and she has a roommate," the brunet explained. "That's how American universities work, from what Mr. America has told me. Plus," he continued, "I just got this…strange feeling…that she is a student. Almost as if I've met her before. It's bizarre!"

"That's great!" England burst out. "That's what I was talking about at the meeting! You are probably her Protector. That means that the portal can be kept open longer!" Talking more to himself, he continued. "I was planning on setting up a schedule so that every nation could meet her, but now I don't have to!" He muttered inaudible phrases as he scribbled something down into a notebook he pulled out of his bag.

When he was finished, he looked up. "I think we can leave, now. We can come back when she's awake."

"If we leave now, wouldn't she think she dreamed the whole thing?" inquired Lithuania, still sweeping.

"Ah, let me rephrase that. _Japan _and I will leave. You have to stay here, so you can alert us when she wakes up. Plus, you're her Protector, I guess. Get to know her a bit more. Answer her questions. Then call us."

"That's fine," the brunet nodded. "I told her I'd clean the room, anyways."

"Good." England smiled. "I'm glad you're the one. You're sensible. America would just probably get her addicted to hamburgers, Russia would probably traumatize her, and France would try to molest her every chance he got."

"Thank you, Mr. England."

The Briton nodded before imagining himself back in the meeting room, closing his eyes. When he opened them, he and Japan were back in their world, the only remnant of an extraordinary occurrence being a slight rippling motion in the air in front of the table.

_I have a feeling that this will be quite interesting, _thought Japan. _Quite interesting indeed…_

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><p><strong>And that's the end of Chapter One.<strong>

**Blah, this doesn't seem to be very good, sorry. I'm not used to writing OCs. They're harder than they look, XD.**

**I hope Rue is interesting. She's supposed to be sort of this super-stressed, sort of awkward, nerdy type of character. (The latter two traits will be explored more in later chapters.) **

…**I made her short, XDD. (Because short people are awesome!) I myself am very short for my age, but I'm taller than she is! (I'm 4'10.) **

**As for her appearance, she's supposed to look very ordinary.**

**Yes, I gave her an awful roommate. Why? Because I had an awful roommate experience, and I wanted to vent out all of my frustrations about it. **

**Well, she's not that bad anymore (we got the issues resolved, hopefully). But basically, during two months last semester, it got really bad. She would keep me up all night, not allow me to have friends in the room, and just basically intimidated the crap out of me. During that time, I pretty much became like Latvia (shaky, nervous, etc.). It got to the point where I would shake as soon as she walked into the room. Thankfully, everything is okay now, though I still don't trust her. (Maybe that's just me being paranoid…)**

**Anyways, bad roommates are nothing to joke about.**

**Though some of Jocelyn's traits are based off of my roommate's, not all of them are. I never had to clean the room, and I never slept in the lounge. (I did, however, sleep in my friend's room a lot, XDD.) All the situations in future chapters (besides the loud music one), will be completely made up.**

**Plus, I made Jocelyn's name and appearance nothing like my roommate's at all, so she's not really based off of her. **

**I hope everyone was in character.**

**I chose Lithuania to be the Protector because I'm used to writing about him (and the other Baltics) more than the other characters, XD. Go, Liet! :D **

**Anyways, I will wrap up this A/N before it gets too long. **

**Hasta la pasta~!**


	3. Chapter Two: Friends and Enemies

**Hey, hey, hey! (Prussia's moment in the _Paint it, White_ English dub kills me every time!) You made it to Chapter Two! Hopefully, that means that you want to find out what happens next. **

**Anyways, this chapter introduces Rue's two close friends. Hopefully, they're likable.**

**Many thanks go to everyone who reviewed! (Reviews make my day; they are my fuel to write this story, XD.)**

**On a random note, I've been listening to the _Chicago _movie soundtrack, and I have come to this conclusion: 'Mister Cellophane' is Canada's theme song. Definitely. **

**On another note, it finally snowed! (It's still snowing.) That's good, since it hasn't snowed yet this winter. This is bad because I'm going back to school on Sunday. (Of course it snows as break ends. F-you Mother Nature, F-you.)**

…**Ahem, sorry for the ramble. (I tend to do that, XDD.) Enjoy the chapter!**

**Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. Not me. –Pouts-**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two: Friends and Enemies<strong>

Rue stretched and sat up, smiling. The nap cured her headache, and she had a cool dream about five attractive guys magically appearing in her room. Cracking her neck, she opened her eyes and looked at the clock. The glowing orange numbers read 5:15.

_Five-fifteen? Crap! I need to start cleaning! Jocelyn and her friends will be here at five-thirty! _Panicking, she threw off her blankets and leapt out of bed.

"Oh, Miss Rue! You're up."

The blonde whirled around to see a young man holding a book sitting at her desk. More specifically, it was the man who was the personification of Lithuania, according to her dream.

"So it wasn't a dream?" she whispered aloud.

"Nope," replied the brunet, setting his book down. "The others left, but I was assigned to stay here."

"You're on guard duty?" Rue found this funny. Now fully awake, she looked around the room, which was completely straightened up. "You cleaned everything?"

"I could see that you needed some help, so I just tidied up the whole room. I don't want you to get yelled at later."

"Thank you; that was very nice. But why do you care, no offense. You don't know me." The blonde was confused.

"It's obvious that you're very stressed and tired. That's not healthy. Plus," he paused for a second, "I really don't know how to explain it, but it feels like I _do _know you. England says it's because I'm apparently your Protector."

"What's that?" asked Rue, tilting her head.

"Hold on." The brunet rifled around in his bag until he found what he was looking for. Unfolding a piece of paper, he explained. "While you were sleeping, England came back and gave me his notes. This should explain everything to you. Here."

He held out the paper, and she took it, intrigued. She marveled at the flawless penmanship and began to silently read.

_**The person who owns the object that the portal is in is called the Keeper. According to my extensive research, the portal will remain open naturally for a week; then it will close for one hundred years. However, if the Keeper bonds with someone from the other world, the portal will remain open as long as both people are alive. This person, known as the Protector, has the duty of making sure the Keeper stays safe, and protecting him or her from harm. Though the Protector is unseen to anyone minus the Keeper, if the Keeper is in danger, he or she will be able to fight off the attacker, though they will remain invisible. The friendship between Keeper and Protector is very strong, and is a lifelong bond.**_

"Huh," said Rue after she finished reading. "So according to this, you're supposed to be like a bodyguard, and you have some sort of special connection with me. Interesting."

"I agree, it is confusing and fascinating at the same time," Lithuania replied. "I have only experienced this sort of friendship with three other people, and I have known them for centuries."

"Centuries?" _That's right, _thought the blonde, _he's the personification of his country; of course he's been living for hundreds of years. _"Never mind. Anyways, would you like to come to dinner with me? You wanted to see more of my world, right?"

"That would be great. You just need to bring the globe with you."

"The globe? Why?" asked the short blonde.

"England also discovered that the portal can also be used as a window into your world. By bringing it along, the others can see what this world is like, without actually coming here."

"That makes sense," Rue nodded. "If my friends ask why I brought it to dinner, I'll just say that I wanted to show it to them." When she reached for the globe, it gave off a bright light once more. When it subsided, the statue turned into a gold necklace with a tiny globe hanging from it.

"O-kay?" she said. "That was weird." Shrugging, she put on the necklace. "At least now I don't have to worry about bringing the globe everywhere."

Suddenly, the door slammed open, and Jocelyn walked in, two of her friends following her.

"Hello, Shrimp," she stated.

Rue unconsciously grabbed Lithuania's hand.

"I see you cleaned the room," she continued, nodding. "However, you seemed to forget to make your bed."

_Crap! _Aloud, she replied, "I'm sorry! I'll fix it right now!"

"Miss Rue," she heard her new friend sigh, a trace of sadness in his voice.

Running to her bed, she quickly (but skillfully) made it, smoothing out all the wrinkles in her sheets and blanket.

"Look at how obedient your roommate is!" exclaimed one of Jocelyn's friends.

"I know, right!" the redhead smirked. "She's very docile. Aren't you?" she put her hands on the smaller girl's shoulders and added pressure when she didn't answer. "Aren't you?"

"Yes," Rue murmured.

"I can't hear you!" sang the taller girl, adding more pressure to the hands on her shoulders.

The blonde yelped when her legs buckled, causing her to fall to the floor.

"Yes!" she replied, louder than before.

"That's better."

"Aw, she's weak too! That's so cute!" the other girl exclaimed.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rue saw Lithuania kneel down, and felt him place a hand on her shoulder. She didn't want to look at him; she was too embarrassed.

"I'm going to dinner now," she said softly, standing up. She wanted to show the other girls that she wasn't affected by their treatment, but her trembling body gave her true feelings away.

"Aw, she's a cute, shaking thing! I just want to squish her!"

Rue didn't know which girl made that comment; she was too busy getting her coat and purse.

"Just so you know, Shrimp, I'm not coming back tonight," said Jocelyn. "That doesn't mean you can bring anybody in here, though. If you want to hang out with friends, go to their rooms. Remember to lock the door if you leave!"

"Yes, Jocelyn. See you tomorrow." Not waiting for a response, she walked out of the room, making sure Lithuania was behind her before shutting the door.

She kept herself calm until she reached the staircase. Making sure the brunet was behind her, she allowed a few tears to slip down her cheeks.

"Hey? Are you okay?" her new friend asked, concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine." Her voice betrayed her, sounding weak.

Gently grabbing her hands, he sat down on one of the steps, pulling her next to him. "You can cry, you know. You don't have to act strong to impress me."

That was the last straw for Rue. Burying her face in her hands, she cried. She only raised her head when she felt the warmth of being embraced. She looked over her shoulder and saw Lithuania, his arms wrapped around her.

"I'm sorry if I invaded your personal space," he said softly. "I just don't like seeing people hurt."

"It's all right," she replied, wiping her eyes. She was about to say something else, but a loud buzzing noise distracted her.

"Oh! That's my phone! Natalie and Susan must be wondering where I am, since I missed lunch!" Unzipping her bag, she grabbed her phone. "Ah, yep. I got a text from Susan. She wants to know if I'm coming to dinner."

Sliding her phone's front screen to the side, revealing a keyboard, she proceeded to send her impatient friend a message back.

"I told her I'll be at the cafeteria in seven minutes. Let's start walking now."

The brunet nodded and stood up. He held out his hand and helped the blonde to her feet. When they finally left the residence hall, he spoke. "Look, Miss Rue. You can always come to me if you're sad. That's what my friends did, when they were hurt. I can try to comfort you. That's what friends do."

"Thanks." She had just met the green-eyed boy today, but she felt like she knew him all her life.

/

When the two walked into the cafeteria, Rue quietly said, "Follow me. Since there are only three of us who sit at our table, you can have an empty seat. I'd feel awful if you had to stand.

It wasn't long before they reached the table. As she put her coat on a chair, the blonde whispered, "The brunette with the laptop is Natalie, and the blonde is Susan."

Lithuania nodded, filing the information away in his mind.

"I wasn't at lunch today because I slept through it," Rue explained.

"Your roommate pulled an all-nighter again." This wasn't a question. Susan looked angry. "If I were you, I would have, like, totally punched her already! I can't believe you're just silently enduring this crap! She doesn't know how lucky she is; you're too nice."

"Normally I don't condone violence," added Natalie, looking up from her computer, "but I agree with Susan. At least yell at her, or something."

"You know I can't do that," Rue sighed, sadly. "Every time I try to, I shake, and I chicken out. Plus, if I blurt out what I think of her, it'll only earn me more trouble."

"At least go to an R.A. and request a room change," Susan pressed. "This entire situation is affecting your health! I hate to say it, but you look awful!"

"You don't think I've tried?" Lithuania noticed the fire in his new friend's eyes. "I've gone to all of my residence hall's R.A.s. If the situation has nothing to do with underage drinking or drugs, I can't switch rooms. All of them seem to think that 'talking it out' will work!"

"That's not fair," muttered Natalie. "You're paying a lot of money to live here; you should at least be comfortable in your own room."

"I know. I've tried everything. I'm done." The fire left Rue's eyes. "I'll just suck it up, and hope that this all ends soon. Sleeping in the lounge isn't that bad." Sighing, she added, "I'm going to get some food; I'm starving!"

Lithuania watched her walk to one of the food lines, his eyes narrowed in thought. _I'm her Protector; I wish I could do something! _He hated seeing her so upset. The encounter in her room that he witnessed angered him. _They treat her like a dog; it's degrading! _He found that the entire situation reminded him of his days in the Soviet Union, but to a lesser extent. _At least she's not being beaten. That's the only upside to this. _He looked at her friends, who listed ways they could discreetly fight back. _It's good that she has friends. That makes her life more bearable._

_/_

After dinner, they all went to the student center to hang out for awhile. By the time Rue and Lithuania got back to her dorm, it was nine o'clock.

"Your friends seem nice," he said, trying to make conversation. The blonde had been very quiet during and after the meal, and it unnerved him.

"Yeah, they are," she replied. "Susan is loud, and much more social than me, but she's a good friend. Sometimes, I think Natalie would rather be alone with her laptop, but when it comes down to it, she's there for us. I'm glad I met them." Yawning, she cracked her neck, making the brunet wince. "I'm going to get my pajamas on and sleep. I know it's really early, but I want to take advantage of the fact that I'm alone tonight."

Lithuania nodded in understanding.

"I'm going to be undressing in the closet, so would you mind not walking by it until I'm finished?"

"Sure," he said. He wasn't a pervert like certain nations he knew, so he wouldn't dream of peeking.

When she walked back to her bed, he narrowed his eyes at her pajamas, which consisted of a baggy t-shirt and soft, plaid pants. The shirt emphasized how skinny she was, and Lithuania wondered if she ate enough. "Aren't you cold?" he asked. Whichever state of America they were in, it got pretty chilly during November.

"My blankets keep me very warm," she explained. "If I wore long sleeves, I'll get too hot." She paused, looking shyly at him. "Um, would you mind if you stayed here until I fall asleep? You can go back to your world afterwards."

Smiling knowingly, he nodded. "That's fine. I don't mind at all."

"Thanks," she mumbled. She gently took off her necklace and set it on her desk. Afterwards, she turned off the lights, and Lithuania could hear her running back to her bed.

Soon, she was asleep, and the brunet thought it was time to call England. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed the island nation's number, and waited for him to pick up.

"Ah, Lithuania! How was your day?"

"It was fine, Mr. England. I got to see Miss Rue's friends, and learn more about her," answered the younger man. "Do you still want to come over?"

"No, that's fine; it's good that you're beginning to bond with her. I know this will seem like a weird request, but will you stay with her a bit longer. I have this…strange feeling…that she will need you tonight."

"Okay." Lithuania was confused, but wasn't about to question England, especially when he sounded completely serious. "I'll stay for a few more hours; is that all right?"

"Yes," the Briton agreed. "That should be enough time. Just call me when you're about to come back."

"All right. See you then!" He ended the call and took a seat at her desk.

All the excitement of the day made the brunet tired. Since the lights were off, his eyes started to close. _I'll just take a little nap before I go back…_

He was jolted out of his sleep when the lights suddenly turned on, and loud music assaulted his ears. He quickly sat up and saw Jocelyn enter the room with her friends. He looked over to Rue, who was no longer sleeping. She sat up, confusion and despair evident in her eyes.

"Did I say I wasn't coming back tonight?" the redhead asked, talking loudly over the music, which was coming from a boom-box one of her friends brought. "I meant I was sleeping somewhere else _tomorrow_. Whoops!"

"I w-was in here first," Rue stuttered. "Can you please go somewhere else?"

"Nope!" Jocelyn emphasized the 'p'. "My friends' roommates are asleep. Even though it's only eleven, and it's the weekend. The night is still young!"

"Come on," the blonde said, a little louder and more forceful. "Can't you hang out in the student center? It's open all night!"

"If you want the room tonight, you're going to have to beg for it."

Lithuania's mouth literally dropped open. _What? _

"Beg?" All anger left Rue's voice.

"That's right," smirked the redhead. "If you really want it, get on the floor and beg. If you're convincing enough, we just might leave."

"No, Miss Rue, don't do it!" the brunet exclaimed. "You're better than that!"

But the smaller girl didn't listen. She was already on the floor, bowing to Jocelyn. "Please," she pleaded. "Let me sleep. Besides the seven hours I napped today and the few hours I slept last night, I haven't slept in three days. It's killing me!"

"Wow. That _was _convincing," said the taller girl. "But do you know what would convince me more? If you licked my shoes!"

"Please, Miss Rue, don't."

Once again, the blonde didn't listen, and hesitantly licked her tormentor's shoes, which were unfortunately covered in mud from the rain.

"Oh my gosh, she actually did it?" one of the girls exclaimed, cracking up laughing. "I didn't think she would!"

"Like I said, she's completely servile," Jocelyn laughed, nudging the small blonde's side with her shoe. "Get up. You're pathetic."

Hanging her head, Rue shakily stood up. When she turned around, Lithuania saw that her face was wet with tears.

At that moment, he couldn't take any more. "Grab the necklace," he said, his voice hard. "I know somewhere you can sleep."

She nodded, picking up her necklace and purse. She also grabbed her plush cat before following the brunet out of the room.

"Where are we going?" she asked quietly.

"Back to my world. I have an extra bed in my room; you can sleep there. You can also spend the day there tomorrow, and meet the other nations, if you want to." He did not want her to be in her room for awhile, after _that _display.

"How does going to your world work?"

"Well, put the necklace on the ground," he instructed. Once she did, he continued. "Then grab my hand, and close your eyes."

She nodded, doing what he said. Smiling softly, he thought of the meeting room, and felt the air shift around him. When he opened his eyes, he saw the familiar chairs and table. "We're here; you can open your eyes."

She nodded. As soon as she saw the meeting room, she gasped. "Wow! It worked!"

Suddenly, she grabbed her head. "Ugh, I'm so dizzy."

Lithuania caught her before she fell. "That's probably a side-affect of traveling to another world," he guessed. "It probably doesn't affect me because I'm a nation."

Picking her up, he added, "If you don't mind, I'll carry you to the room, since you seem too dizzy to walk."

"Okay, that's fine. I just hope I'm not too heavy."

"Trust me, you're fine." And he meant it; she wasn't heavy at all. In fact, she seemed to weigh about as much as Latvia did, and that was saying something.

Once they got to his room, he gently placed her on the unused bed, taking her purse and setting it on the dresser.

"Thanks," she murmured sleepily.

"It was no problem." In actuality, he was angry that he didn't step in sooner. What he had witnessed tonight sickened him. He wasn't a violent person, especially not to women, but he wanted to slap the smirk off of Jocelyn's face.

Taking deep breaths, he calmed himself down. "Goodnight, Miss Rue."

"Goodnight," she mumbled.

Once he was sure she was asleep, he changed into his pajamas and climbed into his own bed. He knew he'd need all the sleep he could get, since he'd pretty much be a tour guide tomorrow.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of Chapter Two. Hopefully, it was better t<strong>**han Chapter One. **

**I hope Lithuania was in-character. I see him as being a genuinely sweet person who'd want to help people in need. (He can also be badass, since he and Poland beat Prussia once, but that side of him will be shown later in this story…) **

**For people who don't know, R.A. stands for 'Residence Assistant'. They're upperclassmen who are supposed to help you with roommate troubles, basically.**

**Yikes, Jocelyn is such a bitch in this! She's evil! (More evil than my roommate ever was.) I definitely pulled out all the stops for her character, and she gets worse later. **

**Yay! Rue will meet the other nations in the next chapter! (Not all of them, sorry. She _will _meet the other Baltics, Russia, the Italy brothers, and everyone's favorite Prussian, though. [And some others, if I can fit them in the chapter.].)**

**As for England's 'strange feeling', my head-canon is that since he's known to practice magic, and can see magical creatures, he also has premonitions from time to time. -Shrugs- It works for this story. **

…**Every time I wrote 'Susan', I had to resist the urge to write 'Su-san', XD. I wanted to give her and Natalie old-fashioned names, but had no inspiration, so I just modified Belarus's human name and Finland's nickname for Sweden. (I am so weird…) **

**Hopefully, you enjoyed this drama-filled chapter, XDD. **

**I will be going back to college on Sunday, so updates will be slower after then. **


	4. Chapter Three: Meet the World

**Welcome to Chapter Three! I can't believe people like this story! (I guess I just lack confidence in my writing, XDD.)**

**In this chapter, Rue will meet some other nations. I'm only used to writing the Baltics, so I hope I don't butcher everyone else…**

**To everyone who reviewed and/or added this to their favorites list, thank you! : )**

**Sorry for such a slow update; school has been stressful.**

**Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. Not me.**

**Enjoy~!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three: Meet the World<strong>

When Lithuania woke up the next morning, he felt something warm against his chest. Looking down, his grogginess disappeared when he realized that the warmth was coming from Rue. She was currently snuggling into his chest, her arms wrapped around him.

_What? _The green-eyed nation was confused.

He felt the short girl's body shift, and realized that she was waking up. After she rubbed her eyes, she looked up at him, blushing. "I am so sorry."

"No, don't apologize," he replied, patting her head. "Can you just tell me why you…" He didn't want to say 'slept with me', since that had sexual connotations. At that thought, he blushed as well.

"Well," she shyly explained, "I had a…nightmare…last night, and I was afraid to sleep alone. Plus," her voice got quieter, "I wanted to make sure that you were real, that you wouldn't disappear when I woke up."

Reminded of Latvia, he gently pulled her closer to him. "If it makes you feel any better, you can tell me what the nightmare was about. That's what my friends would do."

She nodded. "I don't remember everything. The part that stuck out the most was me almost getting beaten to death by Jocelyn and her friends."

After the treatment she received the night, he wasn't surprised that she had a horrible dream about them. "That does sound scary." He used the same tone of voice he always comforted Latvia and Estonia with, and it was apparently working. Rue's eyes looked less frightened, and stronger. "But it was just a dream. You're safe here."

She sat up, running a hand through her hair. "She did threaten me, once."

"What?" The brunet's heart lurched.

"Susan gave me some ice cream a few weeks ago. I put it in the fridge in our room, since I thought Jocelyn and I shared it. I thought wrong." She laughed hollowly. "She took one look at that little container and got in my face, grabbing the front of my shirt. She said that if I ever touched the fridge again, she'd hit me until I screamed."

He reflexively tightened his grip on his new friend. "I'm sorry. The entire situation is worse than I thought."

"It's fine. As long as I stay out of her way, it's not bad. And if I do have to interact with her, I just do as she says and she leaves me alone." She gently removed his hands and slid off of the bed, cracking her neck.

"After what I saw last night, I don't think it's 'fine', anymore. You really need to involve someone. She knows exactly how to take advantage of you, and she'll continue to do so until you snap, or get hurt. Trust me; not doing anything is dangerous."

Rue shook her head. "I don't want to draw attention to myself. If I complain about her, I'll be harassed by her friends, or worse. They're very aggressive. Plus, the higher-ups won't let me switch rooms because there's no alcohol or drugs involved. They think that it's just a small disagreement, no matter how many times I tell them otherwise."

"A small disagreement? Rue, she's depriving you of sleep and making you beg for things. That's inhumane, and humiliating!"

"I know, but that's just how the world works. Some people have all the luck, while others, like me, are always getting stepped on." She softly smiled. "At least I met you, though. You're making this more bearable. I hope the other nations are just like you!"

Hearing this, he remembered that he had a job to do today. He looked at the clock, and swore in Lithuanian when he saw the time. _Ten o'clock? I must have slept through my alarm! I missed breakfast! Oh well, lunch is at twelve. I'll be fine. _

"We missed breakfast, but lunch will be served in a few hours. Is that all right?"

"Sure," she answered. "I'm not really that hungry. I'm glad I was able to sleep in; I'm feeling a bit better."

"That's good." He was glad that she sounded happier than she did yesterday. "Do you want me to show you around the hotel, and introduce you to some nations?"

"That'll be great!" she replied, obviously excited. "Except for one thing."

"What?"

"I don't want to introduce myself to anyone wearing my pajamas! I'll look stupid!"

Lithuania was about to retort that she looked fine, but held his tongue. _Must be a girl thing. _He didn't know what to do, until an idea came to him. "You're only a couple inches taller than Latvia," he stated. "Do you want to see if he'll lend you some of his clothes?"

"Sure," she responded. "I bet anything he has is better than what I'm wearing now!"

"All right then," he said. "Let's go."

She nodded, grabbing her purse and following him. As soon as he locked the door, he gestured for her to follow him down the hallway. It wasn't long until they made it to Latvia's room.

Lithuania knocked on the door and stepped back. A few seconds passed before his short friend peeked his head out. "Hello," he said. When he saw Rue, he tilted his head. "And who is that? Is she a new micronation?"

"Can we come in? I'll explain then," said the brunet.

"Sure." The small blond opened the door more and gestured for them to walk inside.

Once they were both in the room, Lithuania took a seat on the couch. Since both Rue and Latvia were small, they fit comfortably on it as well.

"This is Miss Rue Hunter," he explained. "She is the Keeper of the globe, which is where the portal is."

The amethyst-eyed boy nodded. "Why is she here, then?"

"She ran into some…trouble, and didn't feel safe in her room. I let her sleep in the extra bed in my room."

"If she's still feeling bad, she can have some of the vodka I snuck out of Russia's room!"

"Er…" He didn't want to know why or how his friend was able to get into the cold nation's room, and was disappointed that he still drank. "I don't think she wants any."

"Okay." Latvia shrugged.

"Listen, Latvia," he began. "Since we left in such a hurry yesterday, she didn't have time to pack a change of clothes. Since you're around the same height, would you mind letting her wear some of yours?"

"Oh, that's no problem; I brought plenty," he said, walking over to his dresser. Opening one of the drawers, he pulled out a white collared shirt, a red sweater, and a pair of khaki pants. "What do you think?"

"Ooh!" exclaimed Rue. "I love that outfit! Thanks!" She grabbed the clothes and ran to the bathroom to change.

"Is she a crossdresser? I've never seen a girl so interested in guys' clothing."

"Shh!" Lithuania didn't want his new friend to be offended. "Not all girls have to dress like Liechtenstein, you know."

"Sorry," the Latvian muttered, sheepishly rubbing his hair.

They stood awkwardly until Rue walked out of the bathroom. If Lithuania didn't know any better, he would think that she was a female version of Latvia, but with blue eyes instead of violet.

"Thanks for the clothes; I really appreciate it!" she said, smiling at Latvia. "They fit perfectly, too!"

A knock on the door made all three turn around. Latvia looked through the peep-hole, and smiled. "It's Estonia."

"Good. He can meet Rue," the brunet nodded.

Latvia opened the door, and the third Baltic walked into the room. He took one look at Rue and said, "You have Estonian ancestry on your mother's side."

"Um, yes," she replied, looking confused. "How'd you know that?"

He pushed his glasses further up on his nose and looked directly at her. "Because I am the personification of Estonia. I can tell if you have some of my heritage."

"Oh, okay. I'm Rue Hunter." She held out her hand, which the bespectacled boy shook.

Turning to Lithuania, he tilted his head. "She's human. Why is she here, and how?"

The brunet was about to speak, but Rue beat him to it. "According to the one called England, I am the Keeper of the portal, so I am able to travel to your world."

"Ah, that makes sense." He nodded and adjusted his glasses once more. "That explains the 'how', but not the 'why'. Shouldn't you be in your own world?"

At this, Rue stiffened, tugging on the bottom of her shirt. Lithuania decided that it was time for him to step in. He didn't want to embarrass his new friend, though, so he gave the vaguest answer he could think of. "She didn't feel safe in her room, so I brought her here."

Both Estonia and Latvia looked like they wanted to know more. The latter was about to speak—most likely to question what the brunet had just said—but the former grabbed his shoulder and gave him a stern look. "She'll tell us when she's ready."

"Thank you." Rue bowed her head. When she looked up, she bit her lip, almost as if she wanted to ask the three of them something.

"What is it?" asked Estonia.

"When I meet the others, what should I say to them? I don't want to make a fool of myself, and give them a reason to hate me."

"Why would they hate you?" Lithuania asked, incredulously. "From what I've seen, you're a nice, polite person."

The short blonde shrugged. "Most people just don't seem to like me. It's always been that way. They either hate me automatically, or pretend to be my friend in order to take advantage of me in some way. I honestly have no idea why, but I've accepted it." She sighed, twirling a lock of her hair. "Susan, Natalie, and you seem to be the only friends I've got."

"Didn't your parents teach you how to make friends?"

"Shh!" Estonia slapped the back of Latvia's head. "Don't be rude."

"Sorry," he murmured sheepishly, looking down.

"No, it's all right," Rue replied, grabbing the younger boy's hand. At this, he flinched, but relaxed after the initial shock. He timidly returned the gesture, which made Lithuania smile.

"My parents died when I was very small, in a car accident. I sadly don't even remember them. I lived with my aunt and her family all my life, but they pretty much pretended that I didn't exist. It was almost like Harry Potter's situation, minus the living-in-a-broom-closet part. They never beat me or starved me, but I know they didn't love me, since I wasn't theirs. They did pay for my college education, though, so for that, I am grateful."

Lithuania and the two other Baltics were silent after she finished speaking. After awhile, Latvia broke the silence. "You'd get along with Canada; almost no one notices him!"

Lithuania smiled at his friend's enthusiasm. "I'll be sure to introduce you to him; you two have a lot in common."

"You two should probably be going, if you want to introduce her to everyone before lunchtime," Estonia suggested, looking at his watch. "It's already eleven."

The brunet grimaced at this. "You're right. Come on, Miss Rue, let's go."

The blonde nodded, though she seemed to be in a daze. She let go of Latvia's hand and silently followed Lithuania out of the room. When they were halfway down the hallway, she finally spoke. "I must seem so pathetic. My life sounds like one of those cliché plots from a stupid YA novel."

"No, you're not pathetic. You've just had some bad luck. Hopefully, meeting us will change that." He looked into her eyes. "And just so you know, Latvia, Estonia, and I will be your friends for life; people like us should stick together."

"How am I like you?" Rue tilted her head.

"Let's just say that we had to deal with someone like your roommate in the past."

The blonde narrowed her eyes for a moment, though they widened after a couple seconds. "He doesn't bother you guys now, right? You're all fully independent."

Lithuania was surprised that she understood what he really meant. "No," he finally said, "he leaves us alone now; he doesn't want to cause an uproar. Though sometimes he slips up, and reverts back into his old ways. I don't think he's all there. I feel a little sorry for him, sometimes."

"Russia sounds…interesting. I'm not sure I want to meet him, though."

"You'll probably see him at lunch, but I won't personally introduce you to him if you don't want me to." _Thank goodness. _There were still some tension between the two of them, and he really didn't want to go out of his way to speak to him.

"Hey! Who's the chick?"

Both Rue and Lithuania jumped at the loud voice.

"Ah, America," he replied, once he regained his composure. "This is Miss Rue Hunter. She's the Keeper of the globe."

"Nice!" The energetic nation practically skipped over to the small blonde and shook her hand enthusiastically. "Dude! She's one of my citizens, too? How awesome is that?"

"How did you know I was American?" asked Rue. "I didn't speak, so you couldn't have heard my accent."

"Rue, babe, I'm America. Even though you're from a different world—which is totally sweet by the way—I always know when one of my citizens is around. It's a nation thing."

"Oh, that's interesting!" Lithuania was happy that Rue looked less sad, and seemed more at-ease. _Maybe it's because America is her homeland. _

"I totally just realized something," America said, chuckling. "You look just like little Latvia, in those clothes. Just cut your hair, and you could stand in for him at world meetings whenever he has a panic attack, or something!"

"Umm, thank you?"

"You're welcome!" Suddenly, he whipped his cell-phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Ugh, stupid England! I know there's a meeting after lunch! Jeez, all he does is nag!" After responding to the text, he put his phone away and rubbed his hand through his hair. "Sorry about that; England can be so annoying. Anyways, how's life been treating you, Toris; I never see you any more!"

"I'm sorry." Lithuania blushed at his human name being used. "My country is just so far away from yours."

"I know that; I just wish you'd come visit me more often."

The brunet smiled. "I'll probably stay for awhile in the summer, if my workload isn't too heavy."

"Sweet!" America fist-pumped. "We can watch scary movies and stuff our faces with popcorn!"

Lithuania rolled his eyes, remembering the last time he watched a scary movie with the boisterous blond. "Well, it was nice seeing you, Alfred, but I need to introduce Miss Rue to some others."

"Ah, gotcha! See ya at lunch; I'll save two seats for you and Rue. Haha, that rhymed!"

As soon as the two turned the corner, Rue asked, "Toris? Alfred?"

"Ah, we have human names, to make asking for us by name easier for our governments. Mine is Toris Laurinaitis, while America's is Alfred F. Jones. Don't ask me what the 'F.' stands for; no one knows."

"Ah, you two must be good friends, then, if you're using those names?" inquired Rue.

"Yes." Lithuania was surprised she figured that out as quickly as she did. "At least for me, I only use human names when talking to close friends."

He was about to say something else, but was once again interrupted.

"_Fratello_, who's the little girl?"

"How the hell should I know, huh?"

Lithuania nodded at the Italy brothers. "Italy, Romano. This is Miss Rue Hunter. She's from the other world England told us about."

"Ah! Pleased to meet you!" Italy ran up to her and gave her a big hug. This caused Rue to squeak in surprise.

"Aww, she's so cute!" Italy cooed. "She's like a child!"

"I'm eighteen, thank you very much," Rue managed to say, blushing.

"But you're so small!"

"Italy, leave her alone." Romano pulled the affectionate Italian off of the blonde. "My brother can be such an idiot!" He slapped him on the back of the head and began rapidly speaking in Italian.

"Fine," Italy finally answered, frowning. "I'm sorry, Miss."

"It's all right," Rue responded.

As soon as she said this, a smile lit up the auburn-haired man's face. "Yay!" He spun around and hugged Rue again. When he finally put her down, she looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Is there a bathroom I could use? I umm…" She looked down.

"Ah, there's one down the hall, to your right," Lithuania answered.

"Thanks. I'll be back in a few minutes."

/

After Rue exited the bathroom, she felt much better. However, when she looked around, she realized that she must have made a wrong turn; she had no idea where she was. She decided to keep going, just in case she saw something familiar. She didn't, and was about to turn around, but she heard a familiar voice.

"I don't know where it went, honest!"

_Latvia?_

"Don't lie to me; Netherlands said that he saw you coming out of my room yesterday, when I wasn't there. I know you picked the lock."

"He's lying! Maybe he took it! Oww!"

"That's not his style. Sneaking around and stealing other people's alcohol is what little rats like you do."

Rue heard more whimpers, presumably Latvia's, and, in a moment of spontaneity, tiptoed closer. She saw Latvia being cornered by a larger, much taller man.

"I'll ask you one more time, _Raivis_," the man growled. "Where is my vodka?"

"I don't know, you fat communist!"

Suddenly, the man lunged forward, grabbing Latvia's shoulders and slamming him against the wall. "What did you call me?"

"I, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

"I think you did. Didn't your time living with me teach you anything?" He shook his head. Without any warning, he buried a hand in Latvia's thick hair and began to lift him off of the ground.

Rue could see that the smaller boy was obviously in pain. Anger filled her body, and before her mind could react, she strode towards the man, snapping, "Put him down! You're hurting him!"

"And who are you, little one?"

"That's none of your business!" _What am I saying? This guy looks dangerous! I'm an idiot! I can't handle Jocelyn; why am I provoking this guy? He's huge!_

"All right then. I could always ask little Latvia, here. I know you know him; you are wearing his clothes." He lifted the small blond more and shook him, eliciting more cries from him.

"She's the Keeper of the globe! She's a human from another world!" he finally said, openly sobbing now.

Smiling, the tall man dropped him. He curled up into a ball, grabbing his head.

Rue ran to him, sitting by his side. He sat up, fiercely wrapping his arms around her and crying into her shirt. She soothingly smoothed his hair down and rubbed his head, trying to alleviate some of the pain he was in.

She finally turned to the tall man. "Why did you hurt him?"

"I know he stole something of mine, little one."

"That's still no excuse. You made him cry."

Now, the man looked genuinely confused. "You'd defend a thief?"

Before she could respond, a familiar voice said, "What's going on, here?"

Rue turned around to see Lithuania storm into her part of the hallway, looking angry. _Wow! He looks scary!_

"Ah, Lithuania. Latvia and I were just having a…discussion."

"Don't pull that bullshit with me, Russia. I thought you agreed to leave us alone. We don't belong to you."

_So _that's _Russia? Wow! And I thought Jocelyn was intimidating. _Rue shuddered, tightening her grip on Latvia.

"Come on, Rue, Latvia. We're leaving."

"So the human is with you? Interesting." Russia tilted his head. "I know she is the Keeper, but why is she here? Humans shouldn't be here."

Lithuania said nothing, only picking up a now-trembling Latvia.

Rue followed her friend, wanting to get as far away from Russia as possible.

"China won't be very happy with this!" the large nation called.

Lithuania did not respond.

They continued walking until they got to the hotel's dining room. Once all three of them were at a table, the brunet finally spoke. "What happened?"

"Russia was yelling at Latvia about something. He started to hurt him, so I stepped in," said Rue.

"So you lick your roommate's shoes, but you try to challenge _Russia_, of all people?" Lithuania's voice was harsh.

Rue winced, wringing her hands.

The brunet's eyes softened, and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I was just worried about you. Russia sometimes goes overboard with his 'punishments', and I didn't want you to get hurt. We recover fast, but you don't."

"I don't know why I stepped in." Rue looked down. "I just felt so…angry. Latvia looked so frightened, like, like…me. He looked like me when Jocelyn terrorizes me. I guess I stepped in because I didn't want Latvia to experience that. I guess I would have rather had Russia come after me than him. It was stupid of me."

"Reckless, maybe, but not stupid. Standing up for your friends is never stupid."

"Thanks." No matter what Lithuania said, she still felt like an idiot.

"This is all my fault." Both Rue and Lithuania turned to Latvia. "He left us alone until I stole his vodka. Now, he has a reason to pick on us, or at least me, again."

"Why would you steal from him in the first place?" inquired the eldest Baltic.

"Neither you or Estonia would get me drinks, and I really _needed _one yesterday, to calm my nerves."

"How much did you take?"

"I only wanted one glass, but I ended up taking the whole bottle, in case I wanted more later."

"Raivis, I know we're nations, but this isn't healthy."

"I know, but I can't stop!"

This made Rue sad. _He looks like he's still a young teenager, but he's an alcoholic? What made him turn to drinking? _

She was snapped out of her thoughts when her stomach growled. "I'm sorry, but I'm really hungry. Can I get some food?"

"Sure. Just come right back here afterwards," said Lithuania.

She nodded. Besides being extremely hungry, she wanted to give Lithuania and Latvia some time to talk privately.

Because she was too busy thinking, she didn't realize she was about to run into someone until they were both on the ground.

"I am so sorry!" she exclaimed, blushing. She looked up at the mystery person, and found herself staring at someone who looked like America, but with slightly longer hair and a long, stray curl. "Who are you?"

"I'm Canada, and I should ask you the same thing."

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of Chapter Three! …Of course I end it with a cliffhanger. Sorry for the long hiatus, but school has just been so stressful! As a result, I made this chapter extra long.<strong>

**Blagh, there are some parts that I don't think are too great, but I really don't know how I would change them. (Example: the scene with Italy and Romano.) I've never written them before, so sorry if they seemed OOC**

**I hate writing about Russia. I can never get his character right! (Ivan, why you so complex?) Just so you know, he is NOT the villain of this story. (You'll see his nicer side later on.) I think he had the right to be angry. (Come on, someone snuck into his room while he was gone and stole his vodka. Wouldn't you be pissed if something similar happened to you?) However, I feel terrible for poor Latvia, XDD. Since he can be blunt, I can see him calling Russia a 'fat communist' at least once. (Why does the image of that make me want to roll on the floor with laughter?) **

**I know Rue seemed to act contradictory to how she did in the last chapter, but she's the type of person to put the well-being of others over herself. Plus, she doesn't live and interact with Russia on a daily basis like she does with Jocelyn. (Also, she was sleep-deprived in the last chapter, which made her act a bit differently.) I hope that makes sense. **

**-Sigh- I really hope she doesn't seem Sue-ish…(I know having no parents is cliché, but it seemed to fit, for this story.) **

**See you next chapter! **


	5. Chapter Four: Shattered Confidence

**Hi there~! Welcome to Chapter Four! Now that school is out, I will be able to update this story more frequently. **

**More nations will appear in this chapter; I hope I don't butcher them… (I'm used to only writing about the Baltics…)**

**Many thanks go to everyone who reviewed this and/or added this story to their favorites. You all are awesome! **

**Sorry this took so long to post; I just recently got my inspiration back for this story. **

**-Ahem- I know this is so horrible for me to do, but I posted a new fanfic I've begun writing. It's another Hetalia one (shocker…) called 'The Weakest Link'. If you like scientific experimentation, blood, torture, Iceland, Sealand, Latvia, or Estonia, this might be the story for you. –Ramble over- **

***Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya***

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four: Shattered Confidence<strong>

Once Rue helped Canada up, she decided to introduce herself. "My name is Rue Hunter. I'm the Keeper of the Globe."

Canada nodded. "I heard that Lithuania has a special bond with you."

Since this reaction was different than the ones she had gotten from a lot of the other nations she met, she was a bit surprised. "Aren't you going to ask me why I'm here?"

Canada shook his head. "Lithuania is smart. If he brought you here, it was for a good reason. I'm not going to pry unless you want me to."

"Thanks." Rue let out the breath she was metaphorically holding. She looked back up at Canada who was softly chuckling. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." The blond nation shook his head, smiling, though it didn't reach his eyes. "I just find it funny that the only person who recognizes that I'm my own person isn't a nation."

"Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia seem to know who you are; they wanted me to meet you."

Some hope flared in Canada's lavender eyes, and he slowly nodded. After a few more moments of silence, he spoke again. "Want to get some food? It looks like Lithuania is wondering where you are."

Rue turned towards her table and saw her friend looking anxiously around the cafeteria. Latvia was still slumped over, his head on the table, and Estonia had a hand comfortingly placed on his shoulder. _Huh, when did he show up?_

"If you don't mind me asking, why is he so worried about you?"

"Ah…" the blonde blushed. "I ran into some…trouble…just before we walked here."

"I see." Once again, Canada did not pry, and Rue appreciated this. She predicted that she would become good friends with the northern nation; she liked him already.

"Do you want to sit with us? I'm sure Lithuania and the others won't mind."

"Thanks. I usually have no idea where I'm going to sit." He laughed nervously.

The two proceeded to get their trays of food. "Go on ahead," Rue said. "I'm going to see if there's any dessert."

Canada nodded and walked towards their table. Rue saw that there was indeed some chocolate cake topped with strawberries on one of the food tables, so she made a beeline for it. As soon as she put her tray down, she felt something tightly grip the back of her neck.

Suddenly, she was turned around, and was forced to look into the murky violet gaze of Russia.

"Listen closely, _Маленькая птица,_" he whispered, his hand now gripping the back of her head. "By being in this room, you are breaking a very important rule. I do not care if you are the Keeper of the Globe; you aren't supposed to be here."

All of Rue's confidence from her previous encounter with the large nation evaporated. She numbly stood still, not wanting to anger him by making any movements.

"Tell my good friend Lithuania that he and you have to go to room 017 right after lunch. This is mandatory."

"O-okay." The small blonde cursed herself for stuttering, as well as her voice being raised an octave due to fear.

"Very good." More to himself, he muttered, "Just like little _Латвия_…" Loosening the grip on her hair, he added, "Oh, and one more thing: tell young Raivis that I'll be visiting him, soon. I want my vodka back."

Rue nodded, picking up her tray. Gripping it tightly, she shakily walked back to her table.

"Ah, there you are," said Canada. "I was wondering why you were taking so long getting dessert."

"Miss Rue, what happened to your hair?" Lithuania's lips were pressed together in a thin line.

Feeling the back of her head, Rue realized that her hair was indeed messed up. "Umm, I ran into Russia, again," she began.

Lithuania's eyes narrowed, and his expression turned cold. "Did he hurt you?"

"No. He just wanted me to let you know that we have to go to room 017 after lunch, for some reason."

The brunet relaxed a bit, though he still looked tense.

Though she didn't want to, she turned to Latvia, who had finally started to eat, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful," she warned. "Russia told me that he plans on visiting you, soon."

The small nation dropped his fork, his eyes widening. He began to mutter in a language Rue assumed was Latvian, his shoulders beginning to shake. He stayed like this for awhile, not even blinking. Finally, he closed his eyes, picked up his fork, and began eating again.

"Not again," Estonia muttered, eying Lithuania.

"Don't worry," the eldest Baltic replied, his voice calm. "I'll watch him."

Estonia nodded, then returned to his food.

"Did I miss something?" asked Canada.

"I don't mean to be rude, but this is between Lithuania, Latvia, and I," stated Estonia.

Canada nodded. "I understand. I'm concerned, but if you have this under control, I won't question you."

Estonia managed a smile (something Rue thought the bespectacled boy wasn't capable of), and patted Canada's shoulder. "Thank you. You're a lot easier to deal with than America."

"Thanks, I guess."

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. Rue didn't realize her hands were shaking until Lithuania grasped one of them.

"It's okay," he said. "I'm not mad. Not at you, at least."

"Are we going to that meeting?"

"As much I want to say 'no', we probably have to." The brunet pinched the bridge of his nose. "This seems to have gotten bigger than just Russia. Others seem to be involved."

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault." Rue looked down.

"No, do not blame yourself; you did nothing." Lithuania tightened the grip on her hand.

She returned the gesture, and after a few more moments of silence, she spoke. "Are you ready to go?"

Lithuania nodded and stood up, not letting go of her hand. She got up with him. Once they tossed their empty plates in the garbage, they silently walked. To Rue, it seemed like an eternity. When they finally got to the smaller meeting room, Lithuania let go of her hand.

"I know you're nervous, but I don't want the others to get the wrong idea." He smiled. "Just know that I'll be sitting next to you the entire time."

"Right." With a deep breath, Rue pushed the door open.

/

The first thing Lithuania noticed when he walked into the room was a long table occupied by five people: China, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway. _Great. The Panel of Nations? _As he took his seat, he sighed inwardly. The Panel of Nations was an organization made up of seven countries. They enforced a strict code of rules for being a personified nation. It was at this moment that Lithuania realized that his spontaneity caused him to break one of the most important rules: humans are not allowed into world meetings.

Looking around, he noticed that two people were missing: England and Japan. _Since they went to Rue's world with me, they probably weren't allowed to join this meeting because they might be biased. _He turned to Rue, whose face was paler than it was before. Not being able to help himself, he placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "It'll be fine." _I hope. _He caught the looks China and Switzerland gave him.

"We should start this meeting so that we can get on with our lives," stated Switzerland.

"Very well." China nodded, the seriousness in his youthful voice betraying his age. "I know all about England's little experiment, since I was at that meeting. However, I only approved of us going over to the other world, not anyone from that world coming back here." His voice softened. "Lithuania, you are a reasonable young man who hasn't broken any rules in the past. Why did you bring this girl here?"

He turned to Rue, who reflexively curled up on her chair. "Go ahead," she muttered. "It's okay; tell them."

"Thank you." He didn't want to embarrass his friend, so he carefully composed his words before speaking. Looking back up at China and the rest of the Panel, he said, "Miss Rue is an American college student, as well as the Keeper of the portal, also known as the Globe. When I visited her yesterday, I witnessed something alarming. She wasn't being treated fairly, and I thought the situation could have turned dangerous, so I brought her here."

"What exactly happened, Lithuania?" Switzerland tapped his foot. "I know you're trying to make this vague to respect the girl, but _we _don't know what happened. Before we can judge your actions, you must explain your reasons better."

Nodding, Lithuania slightly clenched his fists and retold the events of last night. He shifted his eyes to look at Rue, whose head was hanging. After he was finished he sat down, knowing that the Panel would want to discuss the situation among themselves.

When the five finally stopped whispering, Lithuania spoke again. "Have you come to a consensus?"

"Yes 'n no." The brunet turned toward Sweden, his thickly accented voice echoing throughout the small room.

China nodded and took over. "We all agree that your heart was in the right place."

"However," Russia interrupted, his trademark smile plastered on his face, "rules are rules, and you broke one. And you know what happens when you break rules, little Литва."

Lithuania inwardly winced. The jab made many unpleasant memories surface, ones filled with screaming, fear, and the sound of a whip meeting flesh. He looked up at the large nation, animosity making his eyes cold.

Switzerland stood up, obviously sensing the tension. "Despite the rule-breaking, most of us agree that you did the right thing."

Norway nodded. "That being said, you won't be punished for this."

"'Nd if the girl needs a place t' stay, she c'n stay with ya."

"Thank you." Lithuania bowed his head.

"I will talk to England later today about creating a movable object to keep the portal in." Norway's comment caught the brunet's attention.

"What?"

"You won't be able to stay in this hotel forever; if you want to keep in contact with the girl, there has to be a way to take the portal back to Kaunas with you."

_That makes sense. _At first, he wondered why the reserved Nordic was interested in this, then realized that like England, Norway also had magical abilities. He nodded, then turned to China, who lead the Panel. "Is the meeting finished?"

"I suppose it is," the Asian nation responded.

"Tch. Years ago, we were never this lenient," Russia scoffed, throwing a condescending look towards Lithuania.

"Russia," China warned. "Leave it. The Panel's voting is based on majority rule. This issue is resolved." With no further words, the ancient nation walked out of the room.

This was the others' (including Lithuania's) cue to leave. He grabbed Rue's hand and gently guided her out.

"I must seem like such a worthless wimp to them," she said, tugging on the bottom of Latvia's sweater. "They only let me stay out of pity."

"You have to remember that we are hundreds of years old. To us, eighteen years on this planet is so young. They let you stay not out of pity, but because you are a child, to them."

"That's not much better." She cracked her neck, unnerving Lithuania.

"Hey, it's okay," he answered reassuringly. "Do you want to go back to your world, or do you want to stay here?"

"Can I stay here another night, and hang out with you tomorrow? I just need to get my homework and some more clothes from my dorm."

"Certainly. I'll be doing some work myself, tomorrow. It might be boring, though."

"That'll be great, actually," said Rue. "It'll be nice to do my homework in peace for once. Plus," she tilted her head, "Susan and Natalie have projects to do; they can't hang out until they're finished with them."

"Then feel free to stay." Lithuania smiled. "Latvia will be happy; he's gotten sort of attached to you."

"Really?"

"Yes. Not many people stick up for him, so he really appreciated that you did."

"I don't mean to rush, but do you mind if we get my stuff now? I don't want to run into…" She let the end of her sentence trail off, though Lithuania got the meaning.

"Let's go."

/

When the two made it back to her room, Rue could sense there was something…off. Jocelyn wasn't there, but an uncomfortable aura still remained. As she made her way over to her side of the room, she discovered the reason for her feelings: the majority of her bed was covered in what looked (and smelled) like a combination of soda and beer.

She let a sigh escape from her throat, and she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to suppress the tears that threatened to escape from her eyes. She felt Lithuania's hand on her shoulder, and she turned to face him, not meeting his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Do you want to use the hotel's laundry room to wash everything?"

"That would be great." Her voice came out hoarse and tired. Silently, she stripped her bed, thankful that the damage didn't reach the mattress. After everything was on the floor, she quickly packed a bag and grabbed her homework.

"Can you hold my bag so I can carry the sheets?"

Lithuania nodded, taking the small overnight bag and textbooks. "Don't you want me to carry everything; the blanket and sheets are swallowing you!"

"I can do it; I just don't want you to smell any of this. It's disgusting."

The two said nothing until they were back in the hotel.

"This isn't right; she's damaged your property. I think—what do you call them?—the R.A.s will understand, now."

Dropping the sheets on the floor, she sighed. "If I do bring this to their attention, they might think that _I _did this, since the beer was on my sheets. I could get in a lot of trouble for that, since I am underage."

"That's not fair." Lithuania frowned and slightly shook his head.

Rue hollowly chuckled. "You and I both know that life is never fair."

Once her bedding was in the wash, she decided that she wanted to do some of her homework. "Can you take me back to your room?"  
>"Definitely." The brunet nodded. "I have some business I need to take care of, so would you mind not leaving the room until I get back? I'll take care of your laundry."<p>

"That's fine. I'm probably just going to do my homework and sleep; I'm not in the mood for dinner."

"I have some snacks in the fridge if you do get hungry."

/

Rue was starting to think that she should have followed Lithuania. Though it was nice to have some quiet time to do her homework, after she finished it, she quickly became bored. Her Italian, history, and literature work only took three hours since she worked on it consecutively, and though she was tired, she didn't feel like sleeping. She felt her stomach grumble from slight hunger, so she lazily made her way to the fridge. After she grabbed a slice of pizza, she glanced at the clock. _Seven-thirty already? I guess I'll read for a bit, then sleep. _She didn't think Lithuania would mind if she borrowed his book for a few hours.

Though it was currently only nine o'clock, the busyness of the day tired Rue out, and she couldn't read any more. Placing the book back on Lithuania's desk, she changed into a new set of pajamas (she left the other ones in Latvia's room) and turned the light off. She didn't bother locking the door because she figured Lithuania would be back soon. Yawning, she crawled into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

However, her peaceful rest was shattered when she heard the door slam open, someone (Lithuania, she assumed) running into the room. Concerned, she sat up and turned on the lamp on her nightstand. When her eyes got used to the sudden brightness, she realized that her assumption was wrong.

"Is Toris here?" Latvia quivered, obvious tearstains on his face. The young nation was shirtless, and it looked like countless bruises were already starting to form all over his pale body (though most were concentrated around his abdomen and neck).

Sickened, Rue quickly shook her head. "What happened?"

Locking the door, Latvia ran to Rue's bed and jumped onto it, burying himself under the blankets.

"Latvia?" Rue tentatively placed a hand on his (also bruised) back.

The small blond stiffened. After awhile, he finally sat up. "I'm sorry," he whispered, looking down. "I shouldn't be in bed with you; it's indecent."

"I don't mind. Just please, tell me what happened. You don't look so great."

Moving closer to the older girl, Latvia began to speak, though he didn't meet her eyes. "I…I brought this upon myself. I took Mr. Russia's vodka knowing fully well what the consequences were. I'm just glad he didn't use knives this time."

"Russia did this to you." This wasn't a question. Her protective instincts took over, and she embraced the boy, noting how thin he was.

"I was stupid to think he wouldn't notice." He chuckled grimly. "He wanted it back."

"Did you give it to him?"

"I gave him the bottle." He laughed again, the dark tone of it unnerving Rue. "Because I was so scared of him coming for me all afternoon, I drank every last drop of it. Mr. Russia wasn't amused."

"So he beat you."

"He _really _wanted his vodka back. Well, he got it; he punched me in the stomach one too many times and I vomited all over his shoes."

"Is that when you ran?"

"No, he made me clean it up first. With my shirt. After I threw it out, he left, that damn smile still on his face!"

More tears began to slide down his face, so Rue hugged him even closer. "I know it's bad to steal drinks, but I can't help it! Ever since the Soviet Union…" He started muttering in Latvian. When he finally looked up, he continued. "This is all _his _fault; he conditioned me to act like this! He even supported my drinking habits back then! Hehe, he thought it kept me stupid. Bastard."

"Shh, it's okay." Rue didn't like how Latvia's tone kept switching from childish to mature; it made the younger boy seem unstable. _Poor boy. _

When the boy spoke again, his childish attitude was back. "C-can I sleep with you, for the night?" he asked shyly, wringing his hands.

Thinking back to how Lithuania accepted her in his bed, she didn't have the heart to say no. She nodded. "Of course you can."

The relief on Latvia's face was obvious. Detaching himself from Rue, he allowed her to turn off the lamp and get into a comfortable position. She was about to close her eyes when she felt Latvia embrace her and snuggle into her chest, the side of his head resting on her (almost nonexistent, but still there) breasts.

Squeaking softly, she stiffened. She felt Latvia stiffen too, and could practically hear the blush in his voice. "I'm so sorry, Miss Rue; I always slept like this when I shared a bed with Estonia and Lithuania. I forgot that you…"

Not wanting to deny the boy his comfort, she laughed softly. "I don't mind; you just startled me, that's all."

"Okay," he sleepily murmured. Though he still embraced her, he changed his position so that his head was resting in the crook of her neck.

"G'night," he whispered, his breath hot against her neck.

"Goodnight." The extra warmth made Rue even more tired than she already was; it only took a few minutes before she was asleep.

/

Lithuania quietly unlocked the door to his room, not wanting to disturb Rue. He knew it was late; the business he had to attend to took longer than he thought (he hated paperwork). Turning on the bathroom light, he looked over at Rue's bed and nearly did a double-take. Latvia had his arms wrapped around Rue, his head resting on her shoulder and a small smile on his face. Gone was the fear that usually held the boy in its clutches; instead, only innocence remained. Lithuania had no idea why the youngest Baltic was in his room, but didn't dare disturb him to find out.

Smiling, he changed into his nightclothes in the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and climbed into his own bed.

/

In the morning, Lithuania found out what happened to Latvia. Though he was deeply angry that Russia had terrorized the poor boy again, he plastered a smile on his face and forced his voice to sound soothing when he told him that everything was going to be okay. _He'll get what's coming to him one day; sooner or later, karma will catch up to him. _

As soon as the three got dressed, they spent the rest of the day talking. Estonia, America, and Canada joined them, and even Japan and England stopped by for a visit. While the others talked about things like favorite movies, food, and books, Lithuania organized more documents, though he didn't leave the room this time.

After the eight of them finished dinner, Lithuania knew it was time to take Rue home.

"As much as I want you to stay at this hotel until this conference is over, you have school tomorrow, and I don't condone skipping class."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Rue smiled. "Since I got a lot of sleep here, I should be all right if Jocelyn decides to pull yet another all-nighter."

After she said goodbye to her new friends (Latvia in particular was reluctant to see her go), the two walked through the portal.

When they appeared in her dorm, it was (fortunately) empty. Lithuania helped Rue make her bed (which luckily did not smell like alcohol anymore).

However, all hopes of his new friend having a peaceful night were shattered when the door slammed open. Jocelyn and a tall boy staggered into the room, beer bottles in their hands.

"See, Kurt," slurred Jocelyn. "Told ya she'd be back!"

Putting his drink down on Jocelyn's desk, the boy—whom Lithuania assumed was named Kurt—strode over to Rue, who was looking down. "Hehe, she's a tiny one, but she's cute."

Lithuania didn't like the way he was leering at the small blonde. He stood protectively behind her, glaring fiercely at the obviously-drunk boy.

Before the brunet could react, Kurt lunged forward, groping Rue's chest. When she opened her mouth to cry out, he wrapped one of his hands around her head and forced her towards him. As soon as she was close enough, he leaned down crashed his lips against hers.

At that moment, Lithuania saw red. Though he was invisible to everyone in this world but Rue, he could still touch people. With a snarl, he grabbed onto the back of Kurt's jacket and yanked him off of Rue. Still holding onto him, he dragged the boy out of the room and pushed him to the ground (which was pretty easy because he was so drunk). He was able to get a kick in before Kurt scrambled to his feet.

"This dorm is haunted!" he babbled, jerkily running toward the stairs.

Lithuania smirked, pleased with how easy he was able to scare the drunk.

"TORIS!"

The smile fell from his face when he heard his name being screamed. The only time someone ever used that tone when calling out to him was when one of his fellow Baltics was being beaten by Russia back in the Soviet Union. Forcing the memories out of his mind, he ran back into the room just as Jocelyn left, holding a shattered beer bottle. Looking down, he saw Rue curled up on the floor, her hands covering her face.

Quickly sitting down, he pulled the tiny girl onto his lap. "Let me see," he ordered.

Rue looked at him, tears pouring from her eyes, and removed her bloody hands. Lithuania winced; the right side of her face was a bloody mess with pieces of glass buried in it. "Dievas! What happened?"

He could see that it took a lot of energy for her to get her breathing under control, so he rubbed her shoulders until she spoke. "After you dragged Kurt out, Jocelyn got mad. She said that I ruined her fun, and then she smashed her bottle against my face. She pushed me to the floor and kept slashing at it...She wouldn't...stop! I—" She interrupted herself by hissing in pain, tightly grabbing the front of Lithuania's jacket.

"You need medical attention!"

"No!" Rue cried more. "I don't want to have more unwanted attention! Please, can't you sew it up for me? I'm sure you sewed up Latvia's and Estonia's wounds during the Soviet era!"

What she said was true, but Lithuania shook his head. "No. You need a doctor. And the police. You could have been killed!"

Though she looked terrified, Rue nodded. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed her phone and dialed a number. After a few seconds, someone picked up.

"Hello, Susan?" The blonde's voice was very strained, and filled with pain. "Can you call an ambulance? Something happened." She paused, waiting for her friend's answer. "I know, but I can't remember my dorm's address. Please…" The end of her sentence trailed off, and the phone dropped out of her hand.

Alarmed, Lithuania saw that his new friend had passed out. He kissed her forehead and held her close, only letting go when the paramedics came.

* * *

><p><strong>And that is the end of this…exciting (?)…chapter. <strong>

**Poor Rue; I am so mean to her…**

**As for some other notes: In my head-canon, the nations have a set of rules they must follow. I also think that there'd be a group to enforce these rules, led by China (since he's the eldest and probably the wisest). **

**Also in my head-canon, I think that Latvia is a bit emotionally unstable because of the Soviet Union era. (I can see him switching back and forth between a childish tone of voice and a more mature one, depending on his mood. That's just me, though, XD. -Shrugs-)**

**Once again, Russia will not be the villain of this story. (Not the major one, at least.) I am not condoning how he treats Latvia, but he won't be as…physical…to the Baltics in later chapters. (There will be a lot of tension between them, though.)**

**I love writing about Latvia, so he'll appear more. (Same with Estonia, but he'll be more…in the background. Sorry, Eesti, XD. He'll have some moments later in the story, though.) **

**Before people complain that "no one parties and drinks on a Sunday night", I've actually seen this happen at my college (well, I heard it, and saw some drunks stumbling around outside). I've also seen people drunk on a Tuesday, so it can happen at any time. **

**This story will continue to get darker, just letting you all know now. **

**Translations:**

**Маленькая птица: **Little bird (Russian)

**Латвия: **Latvia (Russian)

**Литва: **Lithuania (Russian)

**Dievas: **God (Lithuanian)

**See you next chapter! C:**


	6. Chapter Five: Eye of the Storm

**Hello, fellow Hetalians, welcome to Chapter Five! **

**In contrast to last chapter, this one will be a bit happier. (Well, it'll be bittersweet…)**

**Sorry this is being updated so late; I've been so busy working on 'The Weakest Link' that I had no inspiration for this story. I know I haven't updated this in exactly two years; I feel really, really bad! I hope this chapter is worth the wait, and that people are still interested in this one… This chapter will sadly be shorter because it is more of a transition chapter, and a filler of sorts. **

**I also have a question for you readers: should Rue end up being paired with Lithuania (or any other character) by the end of the story? I know I said that there were going to be no pairings, but I've been toying with the idea of adding one to this story. If I do add it, it will not happen until the very end, and it won't really be the main focus. I probably won't add it, but I'm curious of what your reaction would be to it. (Personally, I feel like it would ruin the friendship, as well as ruin the setup for this 'OC genre deconstruction story', but I'm keeping my options open…)**

**Many thanks go to everyone who reviewed and/or added this to their favorites/alerts lists.**

**Enjoy~**

***Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.***

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Five: Eye of the Storm<strong>

Lithuania paced up and down Rue's hospital room. Once her face was sewed up, she fell asleep. He looked at the three columns of stitching and winced. _Those are going to scar. _It saddened him that the small blonde's face would never look the same, at least without being covered in some sort of makeup. He noticed that she began to shake, softly whimpering. Narrowing his eyes, he put a hand on her shoulder. "I have to leave right now, but I'll be back soon."

Gently grabbing the necklace, he pressed the globe between his finger and thumb. Almost instantly, he sensed a slight rippling in the air above it.

_See you soon, Miss Rue. _Making sure he wouldn't disturb the girl, he climbed through the portal.

"Ah, Lithuania, you're back!" England's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Norway, Romania, and I successfully implanted the portal in a statue we're going to give to you. This little gathering will end in two days, so I'm glad we figured this out so quickly. Lithuania?"

Though the information was useful and interesting, he didn't care about it, at the time. "She's hurt."

"What?" England looked puzzled.

"Miss Rue is in the hospital."

"What happened?"

"Her roommate pulled a 'Braginsky'." Lithuania chuckled humorlessly. "She was heavily drunk when she came back to the room, and ended up mutilating her face with her beer bottle."

England's eyes went wide with surprise. "Is she okay?"

"Like I said before, she's in the hospital right now, and she seems to be fine physically, though she will have scars on her face. Emotionally, though, I don't know. After she calmed down, she refused to let anyone near her, and had to be sedated in order for her wounds to be sewed up. Even in her sleep, she was shaking." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't think she can take much more. She's becoming like Latvia during the 1940s; it's sad."

"What about her roommate?"

"She was taken by the police for questioning." Lithuania smiled grimly.

England nodded. After a few moments of silence, he spoke. "She needs you, Toris. I'm glad you'll be able to take the portal with you, when this conference is over. I can see the way she looks at you; you're her best friend."

_Best friend? _"She has other friends, you know."

"I'm sure she does, but were any of them there for her in the hospital?"

"No." _Come to think of it, that Susan girl left as soon as Rue was in the ambulance. She looked like she wanted to get back to her room as soon as possible. _Pushing the suspicions from his mind, he internally shook his head. _Maybe she's just afraid of hospitals. _

He was pulled back to reality when England placed a hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to see the new portal?"

Lithuania nodded, taking a deep breath. He was still very worried about the emotional state of Rue, but he knew that she was safe in the hospital room. He allowed England to pull him into a room, where a small statue of a globe rested on a table.

"Romania wanted something flashier, but I thought this would do."

The brunet nodded. "It's very nice."

"It will also look very inconspicuous, so you can have it on your desk without people questioning it."

"Thank you."

"There is something troubling you, Lithuania." Norway made himself known, stepping out from behind a few bookshelves. "It has something to do with the girl." It was not a question.

Lithuania rubbed his tired eyes and recounted the story (albeit a bit reluctantly). When he was finished, Norway awkwardly put a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you wish to go back in time? Are you beating yourself up because you think you could have prevented this?"

The brunet sighed, taking a seat at the table. "It was a lose-lose situation. If I didn't pull the drunk boy out of the room, he probably would have harassed Rue more. The roommate just happened to have more of a temper than I thought." He cracked his neck.

"At least you did something!" Romania's head peeked out from another bookshelf, startling Lithuania. "Any action is better than inaction. And who knows?" He took the seat next to the eldest Baltic. "You might have saved her from something worse."

"I'm sure she doesn't blame you, Toris." England's usually narrowed eyes looked softer. "From what you've told me, you're probably the first person who stuck up for her."

"Yeah, don't beat yourself up about it." Romania twirled the ribbons on his hat with his finger. "It's not healthy. Not to mention, I overheard Estonia saying something about how he's worried you're going to get ulcers someday, since you stress yourself out so much. Imagine that, a nation with self-induced ulcers!"

"I know." But it was hard for Lithuania _not _to worry. It had always been a part of him, and it only got worse when he was occupied. "I'll try my best to stay calm. For Rue's sake."

"That's good." Norway nodded, his eyes sympathetic. "Now let's move the portal to your room; we don't want you to forget it."

/

A week had passed since the meeting ended. Rue was allowed to leave the hospital after two days, and Lithuania had visited her as much as he could during that time. Surprisingly, none of her other friends showed up. And even when she was out of the hospital, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Do you have any idea why Susan and Natalie are ignoring you?" The two sat in Lithuania's home, enjoying a cup of coffee.

Rue avoided the question. She knew exactly why her friends (_or should I say 'former friends'_) were avoiding her, but she wanted to keep it from Lithuania as long as she could. She didn't want to worry her new friend more than she already was. But something in the brunet's voice was different this time, and she found herself opening up to him.

"Susan doesn't want to hang around me anymore. She thinks that the whole Jocelyn incident is giving her bad social publicity, since she was associated with me."

_"I'm sorry," _Rue remembered the blonde saying a few days before. _"I wanted for you to solve this problem quietly. Of course I didn't want you to be hurt, but you caused quite a stir now that Jocelyn's been expelled. Why did you let it get this far? Because you couldn't handle a little kiss?"_

"She thinks it's my fault that Jocelyn attacked me," she continued aloud. "Because I didn't play along when Kurt kissed me."

Rue felt warm arms surround her, and she instinctively leaned into her friend's embrace.

"It's not your fault," Lithuania murmured, gently rubbing her back. "And don't you _ever _believe that. And what Kurt did is harassment! I don't give a damn if he was drunk."

Still stuck in her mind, the words went right through Rue. "Natalie is a different story." She knew her voice sounded dead, but at the moment, she didn't care. "She apologized to me, in tears. And you know how stoic she is! She broke contact with me out of fear, since Jocelyn's friend group is harassing her. She might even transfer next year."

Rue felt the arms around her tighten. "Please don't be angry with Natalie; Jocelyn's friends are very persistent. And very…scary." She looked down. "The ones you saw were the nicer ones."

"So you really are on your own now…" Lithuania shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay!" the small blonde wriggled out of the taller boy's grasp and grabbed her coffee. "I have you and the others; I'm not completely alone."

"But that is what worries me. Though I am your Protector, I cannot be there for you all the time. What if something happens to you while I'm gone?"

"I'm not useless, Toris." But there was no bite in Rue's voice this time. "And because of this…" She pointed to her face. "…Making friends is rather impossible. At least when Jocelyn's friends are around."

"Have they threatened you?"

"That's the strange thing." Rue was puzzled. "They haven't. Besides harassing any would-be friends, they left me alone. Maybe they're just trying to isolate me, to make me miserable without friends." She sighed. "But it's worth it, especially since Jocelyn's gone and I can finally sleep in peace. My birthday's also next Tuesday, so she won't ruin that, either."

"That's good."

Though the dark circles were not completely gone from her face, they faded, making her look more well-rested.

"How are your classes?" Rue was grateful that Lithuania decided to change the subject. Rambling about how Professor Linder was hilarious, and how it was hard to focus in Italian class took her mind off of the feeling in her gut that told her something was wrong.

/

"So that's the plan?" A blond boy narrowed his eyes, looking around the room at the rest of his companions.

"Yes." At the head of the table, Jocelyn Hollis nodded, her eyes cold. "You all have copies of her schedule. She is very routine-based, so she'll always come back from dinner at 7:30 p.m. The sun will be set by then, so it'll be nice and dark by the time you take her to the ravine. I presume you all know what you're going to do after that?"

"Yep!" a Hispanic girl smirked. "This is going to be fun. I'm getting so tired of her goody-two-shoes attitude in European History class. Ugh. I just want to punch her so hard!"

"And you'll get the chance."

At the other end of the table, Kurt Leblanc plastered a smile on his face, but he was thinking of something different than merely punching the small blonde. _She'll pay for humiliating me. _

"All right, team." If an outsider were to walk in, they would assume that the group was at Jocelyn's house to work on a school project, not to plan anything sinister. "Rue Hunter might have gotten me expelled, but that doesn't mean she's rid of me. Rid of us. Let's give her a birthday she'll never forget…"

* * *

><p><strong>I am so sorry that this chapter is so short, but I couldn't drag it out any longer. I'm also getting back into the swing of writing it after leaving it on hiatus for two years, so bear with me, please, XD.<strong>

**Despite this story being off hiatus, TWL will be my first priority. This will be updated slower. However, I will still be continuing it.**

**Hopefully, I didn't butcher the scene with England, Norway, Romania, and Lithuania. I am not used to writing Romania at all...**

**Jocelyn and her friends are so creepy, aren't they? D:**

**The next chapter will be very, very dark, I'm warning you now. **

**I know this wasn't worth the two-year wait, but I thought I should get off my arse and start working on this again, XD. **

**For the old readers, thanks for sticking with this story. For new ones, I hope you enjoy the ride…**


	7. Chapter Six: Ruin

**Hello again, and welcome to this chapter. This one will be longer than the one before it, but it will deal with some extremely heavy subject matter. It will not be happy, and even the nations are shocked and sickened by it. **

**Disgustingly enough, this chapter was inspired by real events of extreme bullying. There have been tons of stories about this on the news, which sickens me… What happens in this chapter is very extreme, but the scary thing is, similar things are happening in reality.**

**Going along with the previous notes, this chapter contains extreme bullying (to the point where it could be considered torture). It also contains a scene of implied rape. While the actual act will not be explained (I want to keep this story T-rated), I thought it would be best to put a warning about this scene in the A/N, just to let people know it's there. I just hope I wrote it tastefully.**

**-Sigh- This was a tough chapter to write, I will say…**

**After this, I will be returning to work on TWL, so this won't be updated as quickly. **

***Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.***

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six: Ruin<strong>

For once, Rue didn't feel stressed on her birthday. The weather was warm, unusually warm, for the end of November, so she enjoyed not wearing a heavy jacket. In fact, she wore no jacket at all. _It has to be sixty-five degrees! This is amazing! _She enjoyed the fact that she was able to have the room (not to mention the day) to herself, without any bitter relatives or disrespectful roommates to bother her. And later tonight, Lithuania had something nice planned for her, though she wasn't sure what.

In fact, her nineteenth birthday this year was shaping up to be the best one she had since her parents died. While her aunt and her family didn't hate her, it still didn't feel right celebrating with people she didn't really think of as family. Sighing, she shook the negative thoughts out of her head and enjoyed the nice walk to dinner.

When she had eaten all she could, she checked her phone. _Seven-thirty on the dot. Lithuania should be coming in a few hours. _Grabbing her bag, she began the trek back to her dorm. As soon as she reached the halfway point, she found herself suddenly grabbed from the side and dragged behind a set of large bushes. When she tried to resist, something was pressed against her nose and mouth. She held her breath for as long as she could, but was soon desperate for air. A little while after breathing in whatever was on the rag, she found herself passing out.

/

When she came to, the first thing Rue noticed was that she couldn't see. The second was that her wrists were restrained, and that she was tied to something. Before she could speak, something was roughly shoved into her mouth, and a piece of what she assumed was tape slapped over it.

_What is going on? _She tried to shrug the blindfold off, but whatever knocked her out before was still in her system, so her body was still groggy.

"Welcome to night class, Rue." The voice was muffled, as though a scarf was wrapped around the speaker's mouth. "Since you're the star student, we thought we'd treat you to some extra lessons."

Before she could even make a sound, the small blonde felt something crash into her cheek.

"Lesson one," another voice began. "Don't speak unless you're being spoken to." More hits to her face followed until the blindfold slipped off. Tears dripped from Rue's eyes from both the pain as well as knowing who her attackers were.

Jocelyn Hollis stood at the front of the group, her face cold. She rubbed her knuckles, cracking them. Without a sound, she pulled a knife from her pocket, tossing it to one of the girls. "Cut off her shirt."

Panicking, Rue shook her head, making as much noise as she could. But it was to no avail. No amount of squirming saved her from the humiliation of getting her shirt cut open and ripped off by a group of strangers. If anything, it just made her now almost-bare back scrape painfully against the tree she realized she was tied to. She whimpered when the globe necklace's chain was broken and tossed aside.

"Let me guess. A-cup?" Jocelyn smirked. "You won't be needing that, either." She nodded to who Rue drowsily dubbed Knife-Girl. Raising an eyebrow, she cut through the straps of the last bit of clothing protecting Rue's upper body, not even caring that she nicked the girl's shoulder in the process.

"How about it, boys? How does she rank?" Jocelyn took the knife back.

All the males in the group whistled.

"I'd say a zero," one said. "Look at her body; it's like a stick!"

"Nah, man. I'd give her a seven. Her skin looks so smooth, I just want to grab it!"

Rue's face burned at the comments. She let more tears fall when a few of the boys groped her. _Make it stop! I'm sorry! _Her nose was starting to get clogged, making it hard to breathe due to whatever gagged her.

Her eyes snapped open when she felt someone pinch the most sensitive part of one breast. "Stop!" she tried to scream at Jocelyn, who kept her hand in that position. But all that came out was a quiet gurgle.

"So this hurts?"

Rue nodded frantically.

"You're supposed to feel pleasure from this. Maybe you're defective." Almost pouting, the redhead grabbed the knife from her pocket once more. "Maybe they should just be removed. And surgery is so expensive. Be grateful we're doing this for free."

Rue had no idea what she was talking about until it was too late. More pain than she had ever felt in her life exploded from the left side of her chest. She had no time to prepare herself before the same pain burst from the right side.

The small blonde screamed, though she knew no one could hear her. Her vision got foggy, and the world spun, going black.

In her semiconscious daze, she could still hear people talking. "Jocelyn! I thought we were just beating her up and humiliating her. But you fucking cut her _nipples _off! This isn't the plan! She's gonna bleed to death eventually!"

"She saw our faces. She knows who we are. As soon as the blindfold came off, the plan changed. She is not leaving this ravine."

"But!"

"Do you _want _her to go to the police? You can say bye-bye to that baseball career if she reports this!"

"But…" the voice was quieter this time. "You're right."

"Of course I am, dumbass!"

Some of the fog in Rue's head cleared, and she could suddenly see again. But now, her body wasn't responding. She couldn't even move Jocelyn carved something into her stomach.

"Please…" she tried to say, though nothing went through the gag. _I won't report this… I don't want to die! _The realization that these people were really going to kill her made her stomach turn. With a shudder, she vomited. But it was stuck in her throat. She couldn't breathe. Her eyes swam, and her head pounded. She was choking. But everyone just watched.

Suddenly, though, the tape was ripped from her mouth and the gag yanked out, spilling everything that was in her throat onto the ground.

"Please!" she choked, her voice weak. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"You ruined my college career," Jocelyn said coldly, slapping her bruised face. "I worked so hard, and you had to fuck it up for me!" Bending down, she picked up a rock. "Everyone grab one."

As soon as all ten people held a rock, Jocelyn nodded. "Now throw them."

Rue wasn't sure if luck was on her side, but only half hit her. That didn't mean it still didn't hurt. Too weak to scream, she whimpered, her head spinning when one hit her forehead.

"All of you, scram." Jocelyn's eyes narrowed into slits. "I'll finish her. Unless any of you want to see."

The others didn't need to be told twice. Through Rue's blurry vision, she saw them run up the decrepit steps. Only two figures remained: Jocelyn…and Kurt.

"Before you do it, can I?" the boy asked, tapping his foot.

"You're really gonna go through with it?"

"Of course." Rue could just hear the leering in his voice. "I've always found her appealing. It's a shame she's not going to be around anymore. It's only fair I get my share of her at least once."

"Fine then. I just thought you had better taste than that. Whatever."

"Are you seriously going to watch? Pervert."

"There's the pot calling the kettle black!"

The conversation went in one ear and out the other, to Rue. To her, they were just words. However, everything clicked into place when Kurt untied her from the tree, throwing her onto the ground. Her restrained wrists twisted painfully behind her back, and her burning chest flared up as her body hit the ground. But all of that was forgotten when Kurt unbuttoned her jeans, yanking them off, followed by her underwear.

_ Why? _She hyperventilated, unable to even kick.

Before she could think of anything else, pain consumed her.

/

Rue knew it wasn't long, but to her, it felt like an eternity. Her lower half burned even when Kurt was long gone, and she felt the wetness of blood and God knows what else in the dirt under her.

She had no idea the weather changed until a freezing wind whipped through her bare body. Shivering, she tried to curl up, only to be met by a stabbing pain.

"He did you a favor, you know." Jocelyn's voice was almost gentle. "At least you got to experience it once before you pass on."

_Not willingly. _But at this point, Rue could not speak.

"I'm not going to slit your throat," she continued. "You're going to die here, but it'll be a lot slower. I know you enjoy nature, so I thought maybe, I'd let it kill you. Or blood loss. Whichever comes first."

Shrugging, she knelt next to the small blonde, presenting her the knife. "I'm personally hoping the loss of blood does you in. Hypothermia isn't pretty." Sighing, she dug her weapon into the girl's chest, dragging it from one side to the other. She repeated the process until she got bored.

"Bye, Rue," she finally said, wiping her knife. "You were fun while you lasted."

Without another look, Jocelyn climbed the stairs, leaving Rue alone.

_I'm sorry, Toris. _Hot tears dripped down her face. _I never got to say goodbye…_

/

Lithuania was ready to get Rue for her party. While he told her it was going to be a small gathering, he didn't tell her that a world meeting was going on, and that she'd get to hang out with the others. _She's going to be so excited! _

Since Latvia and Estonia had never been to the other world before, Lithuania thought it would be fun for them to pick up Rue together.

But when they stepped through the portal, the brunet knew something was very wrong. Instead of walking into the dorm, they were met with the cold of a tree-filled ravine. _What? _He looked down, and saw a familiar necklace lying broken at his feet.

"Toris!" Estonia's frantic scream tore him from his thoughts. He ran towards his friend, only stopping when he saw what caused him to panic.

"Eduard. Tell Raivis to stay away!"

But it was too late. "What?" Latvia's soft voice echoed throughout the trees.

"Eduard." Lithuania's voice cracked. He removed his jacket, wrapping the unmoving girl in it and cradling her to his chest. "Take Raivis back. Now. And clear the cafeteria. But have America stay."

"Is she dead?" Estonia rasped, his teal eyes frightened.

"She's alive. But she won't be for long unless we go. So move!"

The tall blond grabbed Latvia's hand and practically dragged him back through the portal.

"You were supposed to be her Protector!" the youngest Baltic sobbed. "Why didn't you stop this?"

Lithuania said nothing, though he felt like he was slapped. But he shook the feeling away in order to direct all his attention to the broken girl in his arms.

As soon as he stepped through the portal and arrived back in the hotel cafeteria, the whole room went into an uproar. Some nations wanted to move closer, while others tried to leave.

"Why is she naked?" he heard Sealand ask Sweden, who literally pushed the boy out of the room.

"Everyone! Leave now!" Lithuania yelled as loud as he could. "Except America, Hungary, and Ukraine."

When the room was clear, the brunet gently placed the girl on one of the tables, unwrapping the jacket. He heard Ukraine hiss as the full extent of her injuries were made known.

"That poor child." The Slav's eyes watered. "It looks like she was…" She eyed Rue's lower body.

"I know." It took all of Lithuania's strength to keep from crying.

"And her chest! It's mutilated!" Hungary ran over to them, a first aid kit in her hands. "She needs a doctor."

"I can drive her to one. There's a hospital just down the street that knows about the nations." America's usually cheerful voice was solemn.

"Will we make it in time?" Lithuania wrung his hands.

"If we patch her up well enough, we will." There was a grim determination in Ukraine's voice.

While the two women got to work, Lithuania sat in one of the chairs, feeling useless.

"What happened, Toris?" America whispered.

"I don't know."

/

Beeping. That was the noise that was assaulting Rue's ears. She groaned, the sound irritating her aching head. When she opened her eyes, she saw the haggard face of Lithuania staring at her. "Toris?" she whispered. "That means I went to Heaven, then. It has to be, if God put an illusion of you, here."

The brunet's eyes watered before tears fell from them.

"You're not dead," another voice stated. A woman dressed in a white coat stepped into her line of vision. "But you would have been if Mr. Laurinaitis here didn't find you when he did."

"What?"

"He and his friends saved you." She looked down at her chart. "Before I say anything else, my name is Dr. Lawrence. But there are a few things you should know." She took a deep breath. "When we took evidence for a rape kit, we also did an exam, as well as a pelvic ultrasound, just to get clearer pictures. There was the usual tearing—" Rue winced. "—but there was also something else, something genetic, that we discovered. Did you know that your ovaries are deformed? It is likely that you will be infertile."

Rue had no idea that Lithuania moved and was now sitting next to her until he squeezed her hand. Normally, she would be embarrassed about having this explained to her while a male was in the room, but at the moment, she appreciated the comfort he gave her.

"Your chest was also severely mutilated when you were brought in," Dr. Lawrence continued. "In order to prevent future infections and pain, both of your breasts were removed."

For the first time since she woke up, Rue looked down. She saw that she was wearing nothing on top, save bandages that wrapped around her chest. Suddenly feeling stifled, her head spun. Her breathing sped up, and she found tears leaking from her eyes. Everything hurt, and the reality of the situation sunk in.

"Toris," she finally rasped, wanting to get the thought out, just in case she panicked again. "I can't go back! Can I stay with you permanently?"

Nodding, the brunet gently embraced her, weaving his fingers through her hair. The gesture calmed her down, but it let exhaustion take over. Within minutes, she was asleep again.

* * *

><p><strong>I am so glad this chapter is over. It was so hard to write. I thought writing the previous chapters of TWL was bad, but this… This was the most disturbing chapter I ever had to write. I almost want to change the rating of this story to M, but this was the most explicit chapter. (I can change it if needed, though.)<strong>

**This chapter marks the beginning of a lot of changes for poor Rue. (Not to mention the nations who have to see her this way.)**

**Sadly, similar stuff happens in real life. I depressed myself while googling extreme school bullying and the like. –Shudders-**

**Lithuania calls Hungary and Ukraine over because he thought it would be more decent if they bandaged her and touched her. **

**Dr. Lawrence knows that Lithuania and the others are nations, but Rue won't know that until the next chapter.**

**If parts of this chapter seem choppy, good. They're supposed to read that way, since everyone is frantic.**

**To be honest, I am so glad to be done with this chapter. I hated writing it. **


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